Separate Paths
by Zorback32
Summary: Naruto and Sasuke were always destined to walk different paths. Neither of them had any real clue of the fates that awaited them, but when Naruto receives a shocking revelation that sends him walking down Sasuke's path, will Sasuke or anyone else have any chance of saving him from the darkness?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello my faithful followers and readers. Yes i know it has been a while since I have posted anything but life happened to make a long story short. This little story i'm working on is a rewrite of the first ever fic I wrote on this site called the Pain Aftermath. This will be a tragic story so if you are not into that dont read. That being said however there will be plenty of heartwarming moments and battles like always I mean come on its Naruto. Anyway I hope you all enjoy and please leave a review and fave and follow if you enjoy!**

 _I do not own Naruto this is merely a hobby)_

x-x

 **Chapter 1: Homecoming**

A strong feeling of nostalgia welled up inside Naruto Uzumaki as he rushed towards the open gates of Konohagakure. It had been so long since he and his master, Jiraiya of the Sannin, left their home, and while the journey Jiraiya took him on was amazing, he was looking forward to this day for a long time. And was pleasantly surprised when he learned that it was happening sooner than planned.

"Alright! We're finally here!" Naruto yelled with joy.

"Has it really been two years?" Jiraiya asked. He was not immune to feeling nostalgic either.

"It sure has! I thought that training would never end, y'know!" Naruto couldn't stop the groan that escaped his lips at some of the memories of Jiraiya's intensive training sessions.

"Didn't I tell you it would be hard, kid?"

"You weren't kidding. I feel so much stronger now!"

But did he, really? Or more accurately, did he feel strong _enough_? Naruto fell eerily silent as his thoughts wandered back to the reason why he and Jiraiya left Konoha in the first place. He remembered having first thought when that day happened that his best friend, Sasuke Uchiha, was kidnapped by the traitor Orochimaru, that despite everything that was going wrong, Sasuke wouldn't just leave willingly. Even now, Naruto thought it was largely due to that Cursed Seal on his neck that he had chosen to abandon his comrades. Why else would Sasuke have tried to kill him not once, but three times in their fight at the Valley of the End? Naruto hadn't been strong enough to make Sasuke see reason then. And the memories of that day made him doubt that he was strong enough now.

"Is there something wrong, Naruto?" Jiraiya asked, pulling Naruto out of his painful reverie.

Naruto shook his head. "It's nothing. Anyway, I can't wait for Tsunade-bā-chan to give me a mission so I can show everyone how much better I am!" Jiraiya sighed in exasperation, wondering just where it was that his protégé was getting all his energy.

The blond jumped on top of the nearest pole and squatted, placing his right hand over his brow as he surveyed the village. To his satisfaction, Konoha looked mostly the same as it had when he left. There were some obvious changes to the village, like the face of Tsunade being added to the Hokage Rock and Ramen Ichiraku being larger than it was two years ago, but for the most part, everything in his home village was still familiar to him. The breeze was still warm and gentle, carrying the occasional fallen leaf along with the faint aroma of Ichiraku's divine meals. Yep, this was still the same Konoha. And Naruto couldn't wait to catch up with everyone he left behind.

He wouldn't have to wait much longer, either.

"No way…" a familiar voice whispered. "Is that really you, Naruto?" Naruto jumped down onto the street to find his teammate, close friend, and long-time crush: Sakura Haruno.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! It's been a long time!"

"So it is you, Naruto! Well, it doesn't look like you've changed much."

"Ha ha ha. Just wait, I'll show you how much stronger I am now!"

Sakura frowned, put her finger on her chin and walked closer to Naruto, looking at him like she was performing a medical examination. She moved back after a few moments, giving him a nod. "Well, the aura around you is different. So I guess you did grow up after all."

Naruto grinned. "You haven't seen anything yet!"

"As much as I'd hate to interrupt your reunion, Naruto and I need to go see Tsunade," Jiraiya cut in.

"I was actually heading back that way myself. We should go together," Sakura proposed. Jiraiya gave her an approving nod and started walking, with the pink-haired girl and her blond teammate following close behind.

"So, what happened here since I left?" Naruto asked, almost too quickly to be understood. Sakura sighed, knowing this story wouldn't be easy to tell.

"About a year after you left, everyone else from the Konoha Eleven retook the Chūnin Exams in Sunagakure and passed."

"What? So everyone else is a chūnin now?"

"Well, Neji's actually a jōnin now, but yeah, you're the only genin left in our group Naruto. So that means you're going to take the exams next month, right?"

"Um, what about Gaara and his siblings?"

The question left Sakura to make an abrupt stop halfway towards their destination. Jiraiya took notice and stopped as well. "Is there a problem, Sakura?" the Toad Sage asked her.

"Kinda." Sakura sighed. "This might be a little hard for Naruto to hear. I think it would be best if we let Tsunade-sama explain it to him."

"Come on, Sakura-chan. Don't leave me hanging like this, y'know!"

Sakura sighed again and shook her head as she turned back to face Naruto. "Naruto…Gaara is the Kazekage."

With how still all three of them grew after those words, time might as well have stopped. The only thing that registered to any of them was a strange flicker in Naruto's eyes, barely caught by Jiraiya. For the briefest moment, Naruto's eyes were no longer their normal blue color; they turned red, but not the same red as when he accessed the Kyūbi's chakra. Jiraiya had no idea what that reaction meant, and that just made it all the more concerning.

"So Gaara's…the Kazekage now?" Naruto asked slowly. Sakura and Jiraiya both gave him worried looks, but nodded. Their concern did not lessen any when he broke into a wide grin. "That's fantastic! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous, but seriously, it's about time Gaara got the acknowledgment he deserves! And that means I'll have to work even harder from now on!"

 _'That's the Naruto I know,'_ Jiraiya thought to himself as the trio resumed walking. _'Still, that look in his eyes…maybe I'm thinking too hard on it, but there is something going on there that needs to be addressed.'_ "Well, kid, the sooner we see Tsunade, the sooner you can get to work, right?"

"Right! Let's get moving!" Naruto shouted and was already dashing ahead of his companions before he finished.

"Naruto, wait up!" Sakura yelled at him. When he predictably didn't listen, she moaned and rubbed her knees. "Where does that dummy get his energy from?"

"I wonder…" Jiraiya commented as they ran to catch up with that dummy.

x-x

It took Naruto less than a minute to arrive at the Administrative Division of the Academy and when he arrived, he wasted no time in bursting through the door to Tsunade's office, yelling "Tsunade-bā-chan, I'm back!" He came to a stop, however, when he saw that Tsunade was busy with someone else, and took his time to observe the people with whom the Fifth Hokage was meeting. His first thought was that they were the strangest trio of individuals he had ever laid eyes upon.

In the center of the office stood a white-haired teenager who looked to be about the same age as Naruto, dressed in a white high-collared kimono with a strange emblem emblazoned on the back, and his remaining garments were all black aside from a green sash around his waist. He was keeping his eyes shut and remained perfectly still while Naruto examined him, and Naruto found his body language to be really creepy. The other two, who Naruto assumed were his bodyguards or something like that, defied all of his attempts at description. All he could say if he was asked to describe them is that he couldn't feel anything from them, as though they weren't even alive.

Seeing that Naruto was up to his usual antics and had crashed the meeting, Tsunade sighed and smiled at him. "So you're back, huh? I knew today was going to be different." She then turned her gaze back towards the white-haired teen and said, "Forgive me, Toneri-san, but I have a more urgent matter to tend to. Might we continue this at a later date?"

The white-haired teen, now identified to Naruto as Toneri, smiled and nodded, eyes still closed. "Of course, Hokage-sama. Thank you for taking the time to see me today. With your permission, I would remain in Konohagakure no Sato for a while longer, so please do not hesitate to contact me when you are ready to resume our discussion."

As Toneri and his bodyguards turned to leave, Naruto tried to get one last good look at him so he could figure out what was really going on here. But it was a futile effort. Naruto wasn't able to discern who he really was or what he was after. All he could feel was an icy cold stare that left him shivering for several seconds after Toneri exited the office.

"Okay, Bā-chan, who the hell was that creep?" Naruto growled.

Tsunade sighed and folded her hands, briefly contemplating how best to explain it that wouldn't set off his temper and in turn, cause him to set off hers. "Well, Naruto, he certainly is a strange individual. Toneri didn't tell us his family name, saying it was irrelevant given his profession. He claims to be a merchant. Furthermore, he claims he has business to discuss with Hyūga Hiashi of all people."

"Then what was he doing here in the first place?"

"We were about to get to that before you barged in, Naruto-kun," Shizune scolded him.

Naruto laughed nervously. "Oops. Sorry about that, Shizune-nē-chan."

"Never mind that for now," Tsunade said. "I'll be keeping a close eye on Toneri during his stay here. But in the meantime, Naruto, it's a little hard to believe it's been two years since you left. You've really grown during that time."

"Hehe. You really think so?" Naruto asked, grinning as he put his hands behind his head.

"That figures. I lose sight of you for just one minute and you go and cause Tsunade-sama trouble," Sakura grumbled as she stomped her way inside.

"What took you so long, Sakura-chan?"

"Not many people have your level of stamina, Naruto," Jiraiya pointed out as he walked into the office behind Sakura.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Guess I let my excitement get the better of me, huh?"

Sakura threw her arms up. "Well, at least you're honest about it…"

"In any case, welcome back, Naruto-kun," Shizune broke apart the argument. "It really has been a long time."

"Yep! So Bā-chan, got any missions for me?"

"You just got back to the village. Shouldn't you go to Ichiraku's instead and then go home and rest?" Tsunade asked.

"No way! Everyone else is way ahead of me so I gotta catch up! Come on, Bā-chan! I don't even care if it's a lousy D-rank, just give me something to do!"

Tsunade let out a deep sigh. "Well, I can see you won't let this go easily, so let me see if there's anything here I can give you." She then opened one of the drawers to pull out a small stack of mission requests that had not been handed off to the receptionists at the Mission Assignment Desk. "Are you absolutely sure you're okay with just anything? I would remind you that D-ranks are very boring."

"Then give me all of them at once!"

"Hold your horses, Naruto. You're not taking all of them, not even with your Shadow Clones. Sakura, why don't you pick one out for him?"

"Why me?" Sakura asked.

"Just help Naruto out before he gives us all a headache…"

Sakura sighed and took the stack of papers from the desk, quickly looking through them until one caught her eye. The one that stood out to her wasn't even supposed to be in that stack, but when she saw who had posted the request, she gained a wicked glint in her eyes. "Here's a good one. It isn't exactly a mission, but there's three chūnin who are in need of a sparring partner."

"Great! Who are they?" Naruto asked.

"They requested their identities be kept anonymous on the request form, but they want you to meet them at one of the training grounds," Sakura lied.

"Then let's go!" Naruto went to jump out the open window, then paused when he saw that Sakura wasn't budging. "You're not coming with me, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura shook her head. "I need to get back to the hospital after I'm done here. Besides, if you're as strong as you say you are, then you shouldn't even break a sweat."

"No arguments there! Haha. They're at the training grounds, right?"

"That's right, they're at the—" but before Sakura could tell him which specific training ground it was, Naruto had jumped out the window and dashed off towards the forest.

"Jeez…that kid needs to unwind," Tsunade muttered.

"That's just how he is," Sakura said. "Well, Tsunade-sama, if you'll excuse me, I should get back to the hospital now."

"That's fine. Keep up the good work." Sakura bowed to Tsunade and walked out through the door, leaving Tsunade with Jiraiya and Shizune.

"That went pretty well, all things considered," Jiraiya spoke up a few seconds after Sakura's departure.

"And why is that, Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked.

Jiraiya's expression turned deadly serious. "Something happened while Naruto and I were on our journey that you need to know about…"

x-x

Naruto was in high spirits as he kept dashing towards the training grounds, seeking out the people who posted that request for a spar. He almost regretted not stopping at Ichiraku's first to catch up with them, but he had told Tsunade that he needed to be doing something, and he wasn't about to go back on his word now. Out of habit, he stopped to check the Third Training Ground first, only to find the last person he expected to see.

 _'No way…is that Hinata?'_ Naruto asked himself. She had grown quite a lot, but was still wearing similar clothing to what she'd worn two years ago. She'd also let her hair grow out during that time; it now reached her lower back. But she was still unmistakably Hinata. Naruto couldn't hold back the warm smile that grew on his face as he quietly approached her, being careful not to alert her too soon that he was here. Naruto wanted to surprise Hinata before he found out how much stronger she had become while he was gone.

"Hey, Hinata!" Naruto said eagerly from right behind her. Hinata, startled, spun around to face him and just froze. Her heart stopped for several seconds as she saw her personal hero standing _right there_ after two years. She hadn't been able to summon the courage to see him off when she left, settling for a silent promise to grow stronger, and now here he was, right in front of her…

It was too much for her to process. She fell backwards in a dead faint.

"Hinata? Oh, crap!" Naruto shouted, scrambling to catch her before she hit the ground. He carried her to one of the three posts in the main clearing and carefully propped her up against it, while gently shaking her shoulders until she recovered.

"Ngh…" Hinata groaned. Her eyes slowly opened to find that Naruto was still there in front of her. She scrambled to get away from him, jumping two meters to her left. Her entire face was still red, and she knew her blush would start spreading lower if she didn't manage to calm herself down soon.

"Jeez, Hinata. Are you really that surprised to see me?" Naruto asked her, still grinning.

"We-well, of course I am!" Hinata stammered. "It's been over two years since we last saw each other, Naruto-kun! I-I honestly didn't know you were back, or that you saw that request my team posted! I would have been better prepared if—"

"Alright, alright! Easy there, Hinata. Calm down," Naruto said, his voice shifting to a more soothing tone mid-speech. Hinata obeyed and took several deep breaths, and as she did her blush slowly faded. "But I guess I did surprise you, huh?"

Hinata nodded. "It was a surprise, but…" she paused to look up at Naruto, who froze when he saw her give him a big smile, "it was the nicest surprise I have ever had."

Naruto's heart was alternating between skipping beats and stopping. He suddenly gripped his tracksuit, clutching at his chest. _'What is this intense feeling?'_ he wondered. He had never felt anything like this before and he couldn't decide whether it was a bad feeling.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, worried. "Do I need to take you to the hospital?" But the intense feeling Naruto had quickly subsided and he shook his head.

"Nah, I'm fine. I must have used up more energy than I thought," he lied. Hinata saw through it, but chose not to call him out on it.

"You ran all the way here from the Academy, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but that's nothing for people like us, right?"

"I suppose that's true…" Hinata's voice trailed off and she sighed. Naruto gave her a concerned look, but before he could say anything, she asked, "Might I ask you about what you are doing out here?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Tsunade-bā-chan sent me out here to look for three chūnin who wanted someone to spar with. Do you know where they are, Hinata?"

Hinata fell into her common nervous habit of twiddling her fingers. "Um…about that…"

What followed was one of the more excruciating moments in Hinata's recent memory. She hated seeing Naruto get down like this, but there was no avoiding it this time. Hinata explained that she and her teammates posted that request at Kurenai's behest, since their last few missions had exposed flaws in their tactics that needed to be addressed. She had thought that someone else would have shown up by now, particularly Team Guy, whose members had a habit of seeking out friendly spars with anyone and everyone whenever the opportunity arose. But Kiba and Shino bailed out a few hours ago, and so Hinata was left waiting here by herself, stuck with the unenviable duty of informing the first ninja who showed up that there would not be any sparring taking place today.

"That's so lame," Naruto muttered after Hinata finished her explanation. "I oughta give 'em a piece of my mind next time I see 'em."

"Please don't cause any problems for Kiba-kun and Shino-kun," Hinata begged. "I am sure they had a good reason for not being here right now."

"Grr…" Naruto crossed his arms in disapproval. He still wanted to run off and find them so he could yell at them. "Fine, but only 'cause you asked nicely, Hinata," he relented.

Hinata sighed and gave Naruto an apologetic look. "I am really sorry about this, Naruto-kun. But, um, if I might ask, why is it that the first thing you want to do after you return home is work?"

"Oh, well…" Naruto found himself having some difficulty answering Hinata's question, which was unusual considering he'd been able to answer it easily when Tsunade asked. It took a little effort for him to remind himself that Hinata probably wouldn't care what he gave her as an answer. "No reason, really. I was just hoping to show off."

To both his surprise and hers, Hinata giggled. "You really haven't changed, Naruto-kun."

"Huh?"

"I mean, you are always working so hard. I told you once before that I really admire that about you," Hinata clarified, smiling at Naruto afterward.

Now it was Naruto's turn to display an embarrassed blush. "Nah. Like I said, I just wanted to show off to Sakura-chan and Tsunade-bā-chan." Then, as an afterthought, "And to you as well."

Hinata blushed slightly again before shaking her head. "Wanting to be praised is a natural feeling," she said. Then she lowered her head and whispered, too softly for Naruto to hear, "I know the feeling all too well…"

"What was that, Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"Please don't worry about it," Hinata quickly replied.

"If you say so." Naruto turned away briefly and was about to walk away to sulk before he remembered what he had been planning to do and quickly grew excited again. "Hey! Since we don't have to do anything today, wanna go get some ramen with me, Hinata?"

The question sent the blood shooting right back up to Hinata's head. ' _E-eating ramen alone with Na-Naruto-kun? Wouldn't that be a…d-date?!'_ she thought frantically.

Naruto didn't understand Hinata's reaction, but he also didn't want to wait for an answer either so he did what he did best and acted. "Come on, Hinata! I'm starving and I haven't had any ramen in years!" Naruto said grabbing her hand.

Hinata felt herself being roughly pulled, both back to reality and along the path back to the village. She was about to protest but when she felt Naruto's strong hand locked with her own and his smiling face as he happily pulled her along, it warmed Hinata's heart in a way she had not felt in long time. And so she was content to just let Naruto continue to lead her along.

x-x

"Throughout my entire life, I've only come close to dying twice," Jiraiya explained. "The first was when you caught me doing research at an onsen, Tsunade. You broke six of my ribs, both arms, and ruptured a handful of internal organs. You beat me like a drum that day. The second time…" he paused for dramatic effect as he took off his green kimono shirt and mesh armor to reveal a massive scar in the middle of his chest, "happened two and a half months ago, while Naruto was training to control the Kyūbi no Yōko's power." Tsunade narrowed her eyes at Jiraiya and Shizune covered her mouth with her hands to stifle a gasp. "Naruto had demonstrated that he could keep control of himself while wrapped inside the Kyūbi's cloak after it reached three tails, so I loosened the seal to allow him access to more chakra. That's when things went wrong. The instant he tried to call on more chakra, the Kyūbi took complete control."

"And why did you not think it fit to tell me about this the moment it happened? In fact, why didn't you bring Naruto back immediately?" the Hokage asked the Toad Sage in a scolding voice.

Jiraiya groaned and scratched the back of his head. "Well, that's the problem. The Akatsuki have started to make their move. They've already captured two jinchūriki, so my highest priority after healing enough to move again was making sure they couldn't track our movements and ambush us while we were vulnerable."

"Damn it, Jiraiya!" Tsunade cursed. "You put yourself and Naruto in far too much danger trying a stunt like that."

"I have to agree with Tsunade-sama. That was reckless, Jiraiya-sama," Shizune added.

"Putting aside the fact you tried to help Naruto control the Kyūbi by yourself, which I will say again was an incredibly stupid act in and of itself, you mentioned something else that was bothering you more than this?" Tsunade asked.

Jiraiya scratched the scar left behind from Naruto's attack before he said in a morbid tone, "I sensed something else inside Naruto right before he attacked me…something with far more malice then the Kyūbi."

Both Tsunade and Shizune looked at each other, not sure what Jiraiya was saying. "Jiraiya-sama, that is vague at best and unhelpful at worst. What do you mean you sensed something more malicious than the fox?" Shizune asked.

"That could have just been the will of the Kyūbi, I mean you did say Naruto lost control right?" Tsunade commented.

Jirayia lowered his shirt and shook his head. "I hope to God you're right, Tsunade, but if it was just the Kyūbi manifesting its hate, it would have been obvious to anyone. No, this was something else…something darker. What's worse…I feel it was something stronger."

"Still not helpful, Jiraiya," Tsunade muttered.

Jirayia sighed and shook his head. "Maybe I'm just thinking too hard on it. But whatever that feeling was, there was a lot of it built up so maybe it was just the Kyūbi. Still, I would recommend keeping a close eye on Naruto for now."

"How close of an eye would that be? You know that kid is just dying to go out on missions again," Shizune said.

"Plus, the Konoha Council has been hounding me constantly over letting Naruto leave the village ever since you two left. Still, Kakashi should be able to handle anything for now should the need arise," Tsunade agreed.

Jiraiya looked hesitant for a moment before nodding in approval and putting his shirts back on. "Alright. I'll stop to see Kakashi and give him some suppressing tags and other countermeasures to use in case Naruto loses control on a mission. After that, I'll be leaving the village again for a few days."

"Oh already?" Shizune asked.

"Yeah. I've picked up another lead on the Akatsuki's movements that needs to be followed up on. It shouldn't take more than a few days."

"Alright then. Be careful, Jiraiya," Tsunade said.

"Oh, so now you're worrying about me? That's hilarious!" Jiraiya said laughing his way out the door.

When he had gone Shizune looked at Tsunade with skeptical eyes, "What do you think Jiraiya-sama meant? Do you know anything about what he sensed?"

Tsunade folded her hands and leaned back in her chair, reaching for a sake bottle. "I don't know, Shizune. But anything that scares him is enough to _terrify_ me."

x-x

Unfortunately for the two Sannin, there were more people who already knew about Naruto's homecoming than they would have liked. In particular, the news had reached the eyes and ears of Danzō Shimura, disgraced village elder and former member of the Konoha Council, even before Naruto and Jiraiya arrived at Tsunade's office. While Naruto was blissfully ignorant of Donzō's existence, the war hawk had found the blond troublemaker to be a rather large thorn in his side, and not because of his behavior. That could have been corrected easily enough, had the late Hiruzen Sarutobi listened to his counsel. But Danzō had been forced to stay out of Naruto's childhood. He had left the boy alone…as had just about everyone else with the ability to influence his growth.

Danzō, being Hiruzen's rival, was more often than not his greatest critic. Hiruzen may have enjoyed the longest tenure as Hokage, but the Third was far too naïve to deserve the job. Hiruzen's handling of matters involving Naruto grated on Danzō's nerves. Danzō had tried, only once, to sway Hiruzen and the other elders to allow Naruto to receive specialized training and make the boy into the weapon he should have been, but the Hokage and the rest of the Konoha Council were unanimously against him. They argued that Naruto should be allowed to have a normal childhood. Danzō had pointed out the hypocrisy in Hiruzen's arguments, stating that it was Hiruzen's own fault Naruto would not be capable of having a normal childhood. Seriously, what kind of Kage is stupid enough to publicly advertise the identity of his shinobi village's jinchūriki? Hiruzen may have later admitted that was a mistake, but otherwise stood firm on having Naruto pretend to be a normal child instead of a living weapon. That was twice a mistake from the Third Hokage. If Hiruzen had allowed Naruto to receive proper training, the boy would have already fully realized his potential and his purpose. Furthermore, that training would have allowed Danzō to harness the Kyūbi's chakra and use it to further the development of advanced weapons that would elevate Konoha to its rightful place as the strongest shinobi village and the ultimate power among the nations.

There were other contingencies in place. If it came down to the worst-case scenario, Danzō would have to write Naruto off as a lost cause and have the Kyūbi extracted from him, sealing it inside another suitable container. But Danzō did not wish to take _that_ step unless he felt there were no other viable alternatives.

Things had changed to Danzō's benefit since Orochimaru's attack on Konoha claimed Hiruzen's life and forced Tsunade to return and take Hiruzen's place. The Slug Sannin was much easier for him to manipulate than his late rival. However, Naruto himself had started to become a wrench in his plans that he failed to foresee. Naruto had actually started to win over the population of Konoha since becoming a registered ninja, with two high-profile events in particular contributing to their changing opinions of the boy: Team Seven's first "C-rank" mission to the Land of Waves, where Naruto saved that nation, and Orochimaru's attack on Konoha, where Naruto managed to defeat Sunagakure's jinchūriki almost entirely by himself. The two years Naruto spent away from Konoha had done little to restore the prior status quo. Public opinion in Konoha was swinging in Naruto's favor. He would have to act soon to reverse all the damage that had been done to his plans for Naruto and for the rest of Konoha.

"Danzō-sama," two voices spoke simultaneously, disrupting the war hawk's solitude. They belonged to Torune Aburame and Fū Yamanaka, two of the youngest but most skilled members of his elite faction of Anbu known as Root.

"I am already aware of the Container's return to our village, Torune, Fū," Danzō addressed the pair of Root operatives. "What else have you to report?"

"Sir, as we observed Uzumaki Naruto and Jiraiya, we noticed that for a split second, Naruto's eyes changed color from blue to red, with no pupils and black sclerae," the orange-haired Fū said. "Based off all prior accounts of a Kyūbi jinchūriki accessing his or her bijū's chakra, that change in this jinchūriki's eyes is not normal even for him."

"As for Jiraiya, from what I overheard during my infiltration of the Hokage's office, there was an incident during the jinchūriki's training that caused them to return ahead of schedule," Torune added. "Jiraiya made certain adjustments to the seal on Naruto that caused him to lose control of the Kyūbi, nearly resulting in Jiraiya's death."

Donzō was contemplating whether this was the worst-case scenario he had prepared for. "Speaking of Jiraiya, what are his present affairs?" he asked Torune.

"The spymaster has already left the village to resume his primary mission."

"How fortuitous for us." Danzō allowed himself a smile.

"What exactly is the plan, Danzō-sama?" Fū asked.

"If the Container has already lost control once, it is only a matter of time before he does so again. Without Jiraiya around to protect him, it will be much simpler to bring him to heel. Go to the Research and Development division and have them prepare the sample."

"That sample, sir?"

"Yes, that one."

"With all due respect, sir, are you sure that's necessary?" Torune asked. "If the Hokage discovers this, a death sentence for treason will be the least of your concerns."

"It is a temporary measure, but in light of recent events it is indeed necessary, Torune. When all is said and done, Tsunade-hime will be neutralized, and the Container will be under our control." Danzo said turning his gaze back towards his window.

"As you command sir." Torune said and in the next moment he vanished.

Danzo chuckled to himself, "Now then how will handle this Tsunade? My pieces are in place are yours?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Framed**

Naruto was no stranger to nightmares, in fact they were a regular occurrence for him. Though he of course did his best to hide this fact from his friends. However, this particular nightmare was different. Naruto was having problems separating this nightmare realm from reality. He found himself inside his mindscape, in the section that was supposed to represent the demon fox being imprisoned inside him. But all he could see was gray, like he was surrounded by a thick fog. Even stranger, neither the fox nor its cage were anywhere to be seen. The only indicator that this was his mindscape was the water from the leaky pipes flowing over the floor, washing over his feet.

"What is this place?" he asked. In the next second, he gasped and reached for his throat. What the hell was wrong with his voice? It sounded echo like and distant.

" **This is the other side,"** a voice suddenly spoke behind him.

Naruto spun around quickly and braced himself to fight but he relaxed when he saw the figure who had spoke. He looked frail, Naruto could see that his arms and legs were mostly just skin and bone. There was not much else he could tell about him though as a long black cloak covered the rest of his body as well as a hood which shrouded his face in darkness.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto asked. His voice still sounded distant like but Naruto had no difficulty in understanding what was being said so he just went with it.

The figure cocked its head a little before answering, " **What an odd question. I would think you of all people would know who I am but I guess it's only natural that you're so clueless."** The figure's voice also had the same problems as Naruto's, rendering Naruto unable to identify him via speech recognition.

"You're not making any sense. Have we met before?" Naruto asked squinting his eyes.

The boy laughed. " **That's so like you. It's like you forgot the situation you're in already."**

Naruto then remembered where he was and immediately turned serious. "Oh yeah! Where the hell am I and who are you?!" Naruto demanded again.

The boy shrugged. " **I already answered those questions, but it seems my words are lost on you."**

"Stop being vague and start making sense!" Naruto yelled.

The boy sighed and said, " **Let me ask a question of my own then, Naruto. Why do you still have this idea in your head that Sasuke is worth saving?"**

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed angrily, "What the hell do you know about Sasuke? What the hell do you know about me for that matter?" Naruto asked.

" **You know you won't get answers if all you do is ask questions."** The boy said holding his hands to the side and shaking his head. " **But I will answer yours first, I guess. Let it suffice to say you may not know me yet, but I know you. I mean, that's not uncommon, right? Everyone knows who you are. That's why they avoid you, right?"** the boy asked.

Naruto could not find a reply to that his lips moved a little bit no sound came from them. ' _Who the hell is this guy?'_ Naruto thought.

The boy waved to him and said, " **I wouldn't worry about it, after all this is just a dream, right?"**

"I don't know are you telling me it is?" Naruto asked.

The boy sighed again and sat down against the wall, he riding seem to mind the water under him. " **I wonder...dream and reality are two sides of the same coin but to you I'll just disappear when you wake up. So maybe I never existed in the first place."**

Naruto did not know why but for some reason he found himself pitying this stranger who seemed to know him. But why would that be? "If your thoughts are your own then doesn't that mean you exist?" Naruto asked.

The boy laughed at the question, " **There you go again with those pointless questions…"** he turned his head away, " **But if those thoughts are not my own, then that's still a false existence Isn't it?"** Naruto was about to reply but boy stood up and began to walk away. " **Forget it. This was a waste of time."**

"Hey where are you going?! How do I get out of here?!" Naruto yelled after him.

" **Enjoy playtime while it lasts, I guess. I hope we don't meet again,"** he whispered before vanishing.

Naruto was prevented from calling out to the dream boy by the sound of a bell chime pulling him back into reality.

x-x

Naruto fell out of his bed roughly as he heard his doorbell ring again, "Alright already! I'm coming! He yelled still drowsy. He quickly threw on his orange jacket over his t-shirt and headed for the front door.

"Damn it! Do you have any idea what time it is?" he complained.

His complaint was shortly met with an iron fist to his face through the front door and he found both himself and the door flying backwards in a tailspin. "That's what I should be telling you, smart ass!" Sakura's voice yelled through the doorway.

Naruto was dazed for a moment as he counted the stars flying around his head but he got ahold of his bearings and rubbed his sore face, "That really hurt, Sakura-chan," Naruto whined wondering what he had done to deserve such a harsh wake up call. "And you owe me a new door too, y'know!"

"It's gonna be worse in a minute if you don't get in gear and wake up," Sakura ignored Naruto's complaints as she yelled, her expression showing great annoyance with her teammate.

"What's the rush?" Naruto promptly forgot his complaints and asked out of curiosity.

"Kakashi-sensei is waiting for us at Training Ground Three. What else do you think it would be, idiot?" Sakura asked as if it were obvious.

"Kakashi-sensei? What does he want?" Naruto asked.

"I dunno. I guess we'll find out when we get there so hurry up!"

"But I haven't even ate yet-" but before Naruto could finish his sentence Sakura gave him an evil glare and asked in a dark ominous voice,

"What was that?"

Naruto gulped and scratched his head. "Nothing at all! I'll get ready right away!" he said while dashing back to his room.

He threw on his pants and his headband after taking a brief shower. But as he went to look at himself in the mirror he saw something off. "What the hell is that…?" Naruto whispered looking at his left eye. The color of the iris had turned red, the sclerae from white to black, and the pupil vanished. He quickly rubbed his eyes and looked in the mirror again, and this time, his eye looked perfectly normal. "Must have been that weird dream," he muttered.

"Hurry up, Naruto!" he heard Sakura yell.

"Right! Sorry! I'm on my way!" he yelled back. But he was suddenly stopped when he felt his stomach growl loudly. ' _Ahhh I'm really hungry…'_ he thought.

"Naruto?!" Sakura yelled.

"Coming, Sakura-chan," Naruto gritted out, forcing himself to forget his hunger and follow after his pink-haired teammate, who was actually starting to get on his nerves.

x-x

Meanwhile, Hinata Hyūga was also waking up and preparing for her morning as well. As she put on her lavender parka she wore everyday, she could hear voices coming from her father's office. Hinata had never known her father to shout before and so far he had not this time but Hinata could tell her father was at the very least annoyed with whoever else was in that office. Curiosity took over and Hinata activated her Byakugan and focused it on her father's office. She could clearly see her father in a heated argument with a much younger man, someone who appeared to be the same age as her.

' _That's odd. Otō-sama never spoke about this man,'_ Hinata thought to herself. Of course the most reasonable explanation was that her father didn't know the man either otherwise he wouldn't be as easily annoyed. Of course she couldn't make out what they were discussing but she could now see her father was slightly more than aggravated with his guest. Hinata decided it would be best not to snoop, so she quickly deactivated her Byakugan and returned to preparing for the day. Had she kept her dōjutsu active a few seconds longer, however, she would have likely seen something that would have made her more annoyed than her father. But since she did not, as she resumed her morning rituals, she could not help but smile remembering the events of yesterday.

' _I still cannot believe what happened. Naruto-kun is back and he came to see me of all people!''_ Hinata thought excitedly. Though their meeting at the training grounds was most likely a coincidence, the ramen they had shared afterward was certainly not. Hinata giggled to herself as she remembered talking with Naruto about his journey and getting lost in the stories of the places he and Jiraiya of the Sannin had visited. With the exception of Teuchi and his daughter, they had been the only ones there and Hinata would have had no issue with spending the whole night there. "Though Naruto-kun doesn't think of it like that…" she said quietly, and sighed.

She straightened up immediately though and shook herself out of it then smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror. ' _Well, there is no point in thinking about it right now. I will just have to try harder to get Naruto-kun to notice me!'_ And with that determination in her mind she set off to look for Kiba and Shino to start the day.

X-x

"You don't need to give me your answer right now, Hyūga Hiashi. But I will expect one soon. This is-"

"There is no need for you to wait for an answer when you already know that answer is no, Ōtsutsuki Toneri," Hiashi snapped. He was quite fed up with the holier-than-thou attitude that seemed to be an inherent bloodline trait of the Hyūga's near-extinct cousin clan.

Toneri said nothing for a few moments before giving Hiashi a smile that sent a chill down his spine. "Very well, then. I'm sorry to have disturbed you." He rose up from the zabuton and excused himself from the office without giving Hiashi a second glance. The only sound made during his departure from the complex was from the footsteps of a few Branch House members backing away from him.

Hiashi let out an exasperated breath when he was gone and shook his head. "The nerve of that man," he grumbled. He remained in silence in his office for a few minutes before the door slid open to reveal his nephew. "Ah, Neji. Just who I wanted to see."

"What do you need, Hiashi-sama?"

"This is going to sound like an odd request coming from me, Neji, but I will need you to bear with me," Hiashi said.

"Sir?" Neji asked, slightly confused.

Hiashi stood up and walked over to Neji. "I need you to watch Hinata for the foreseeable future. And keep it discrete. Make sure she does not know you are following her," he whispered.

"Does this have anything to do with that man from earlier, Hiashi-sama?" Neji asked.

Hiashi nodded. "Just keep this between us for now. I don't want Hanabi or Hinata to grow concerned."

"Understood, sir," Neji said and bowed to Hiashi before leaving.

Hiashi sighed and went back to his desk. ' _That takes care of that at least.'_ he thought to himself. "Still though…" he muttered as he skimmed over the paper Toneri had given him. A marriage contract. Hiashi didn't need to read the details; as the patriarch of the Hyūga Clan he had been through many shady business deals, but this one took the cake. The contract would have certainly offered a substantial amount of money or influence for the Hyūga, and two and a half years ago, Hiashi would have likely accepted without a second thought. But now Hiashi understood the decision did not rest in his hands, but in those of his eldest daughter, who he knew would give the Ōtsutsuki the same answer as him.

Hiashi was also fully aware of Naruto's return to Konoha last night; Hinata's late return to the complex was all the proof he could ever need of that event taking place. This made him slightly less nervous; after all, knowing the history of Hinata's behavior, he knew that she would not hesitate to spend several hours at a time in Naruto's company if given the chance. But taking added precautions, such as deploying Neji to watch over her, was more than necessary in light of this development.

"Hopefully the need won't come to that though." Hiashi commented to himself as he began going through the log of papers on his desk. Hiashi was also certain Hinata could handle herself against any regular foe, but the Ōtsutsuki's presence had unnerved him greatly, and he had no idea how much worse his daughter's reaction would be. He felt much better knowing that should anything happen to Hinata, Naruto would be close by.

"Well, Naruto, let's see if you are worthy of the trust I am placing in you," Hiashi said, forcing the matter to the back of his mind, but it was not content to stay there as he continued his work.

x-x

Hiashi was not the only one with an interesting morning. Though that was not the word either he or Tsunade would have used to describe it. In Tsunade's case, it had started out as a normal morning. Shizune was saying something while Tsunade went through the piles of paperwork on her desk. Tsunade also knew that Kakashi was testing Sakura and Naruto to see how far they had come in their training and she was tempted to go watch the event herself. However her hopes were dashed when there was a knock on the door and an urgent one at that. Tsunade sighed as Shizune looked at her and nodded the ok to let the visitor in.

Much to Tsunade's dismay, it was an Anbu and whenever one of their number appeared in front of her desk without being summoned, she knew it was bad news. "Okay, make this fast and I swear it better be important," she told the man.

"Certainly, Hokage-sama. However, this may not be the best place to say it," the Anbu said.

The implications of that statement made Tsunade raise an eyebrow. She gave a brief look to Shizune, who nodded and closed all the windows as well as the blinds. When she was done she shut the door as well. Tsunade turned to the Anbu and said, "We're as alone as one can be in this village now, so speak up."

"Yes, ma'am. I was making my rounds this morning when I came across a rather disturbing sight. I regret to inform you that the village elder, Shimura Danzō has been killed."

Shizune dropped the stack of papers in her hand in shock but Tsunade did not move a muscle. The Hokage was unsure of how she should react to this news. Danzō had always been a thorn in her side and while she would normally be glad to be rid of him, something about this was off. "Who has the gall to perform an assassination of such magnitude? They would need to be very skilled to get past all of his guards undetected and catch him off-guard. And if the assassin came from outside the village, why did the barrier not detect them?" Tsunade wondered.

"I checked the barrier before reporting to you and saw no signs of interference, ma'am," the Anbu said.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Shizune asked.

"Aside from Root, I'm not sure."

"Do we at least have a suspect?" Tsunade asked. The Anbu did not respond. "Well? Let me hear it if there is something you have to say!"

"We have a suspect, but you're not going to like this…" the Anbu said slowly. He pulled out a small sealed vial which looked liked it contained some type of red misty substance.

"What is that?" Tsunade asked.

"Many stealth assassinations leave behind some sort of chakra residue from the jutsu they used to kill their target. Normally this method doesn't help track down the assassin because of the similarities found in every chakra nature, which makes it difficult to narrow down a unique signature. However, the assassin we are dealing with is both a novice and apparently closer than we thought. This chakra has the distinct potency of the Nine-Tails."

x-x

Both Naruto and Sakura were breathing heavily, but they had huge smiles on their faces as each one held a smell bell in their hands.

"Well done. To be honest, I did not expect you two to push me as far as you did," their master and teacher Kakashi said with pride.

"Heh! It was too easy!" Naruto boosted.

"Easy? We had to trick him using that trashy smut he reads all the time to finally get the bells," Sakura pointed out.

"Call it what you will, but we can safely say you two passed with flying colors," Kakashi said, choosing to ignore the jab Sakura took at the _Icha Icha_ series.

"Awesome!" Naruto yelled.

"Jeez, Naruto. What's come over you?" Sakura asked.

"I can feel it. Next time we meet, Sasuke, I'm gonna beat you and bring you back home," Naruto said. Kakashi and Sakura had no verbal response to that declaration. Sakura glanced at Naruto with a glimmer of hope in her eyes while Kakashi remained stoic.

' _They certainly have grown a lot over the past two years.'_ Kakashi thought to himself. ' _Naruto is still as confident as ever. He'll need to be.'_

"Well I'm gonna go get some ramen! You guys wanna come with me?" Naruto asked. Before either could answer there was a slight gust of wind signaling the arrival of the other three jōnin instructors of the Konoha Eleven.

"Kakashi, we need you to come with us," Asuma Sarutobi said.

"What's this all about, Asuma?" Kakashi asked.

"Hokage-sama has summoned all of us for something urgent," Kurenai Yūhi stated flatly. It wasn't an attempt to annoy Kakashi but she needed him to understand the gravity of the situation that Asuma had done a little too well on.

"Kakashi, whatever it is that Hokage-sama needs to tell us is nothing good," Guy agreed with his colleagues. "We should make haste."

Kakashi furrowed his brow. "Ramen will have to wait, Naruto."

"Hold on, Kakashi-sensei! I'll go with you and-"

"No, Naruto!" Kurenai snapped. "Hokage-sama has forbidden you and Sakura from being present at this meeting."

"Why can't we come?" Sakura asked.

"Does this have something to do with Sasuke?!" Naruto demanded.

"Calm down, Naruto! We don't know any more than you do!" Asuma yelled. The argument ceased for the moment before Asuma continued, "And even if it was about Sasuke, which I very much doubt it is, Tsunade-sama would not keep it from you," he went on to assure him.

"Then why did she say we couldn't come?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, if there is something you need to know, we will tell you. For now, just go home and rest," Kakashi said. Then he nodded to the others and they all vanished in the next moment.

Naruto frowned after they had left. "The nerve of them! What the hell is so important they can't tell us?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, about that ramen…." Sakura said.

"Oh, you wanna go grab some?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Sakura shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I have to be somewhere. I'll catch up with you soon though." She gave Naruto an apologetic look before she too disappeared in a Body Flicker. As she raced through the trees she looked at the note she had found in her pocket before the sensei had left, written by Tsunade:

' _Meet me as soon as possible after this briefing, but don't let Naruto know'_

x-x

Alone once again, Naruto kicked at the air and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Whatever. I'll just go by myself," he muttered. The trip from the training ground to Ramen Ichiraku only took a few minutes, but when he arrived, he was confronted with a grievous sight that sent him to his knees, wailing.

The restaurant was closed with a notice from Teuchi taped onto the curtains saying that he would be away for the rest of the evening.

Naruto tried to force himself up after several minutes and a few passersby giving him weird stares, but one growl from his stomach caused him to curl into himself instead. "So hungry…" he muttered, bemoaning how he had been forced into the retake of the Bell Test on an empty stomach.

"Naruto-kun?" a voice suddenly asked. A second later, Naruto felt a light tap on his shoulder and slowly turned his head to face her.

"Oh Hinata!" Naruto said happily.

"Might I ask why you are kneeling in front of Ichiraku's?" she asked with a curious look on her face.

Unaware he was blushing Naruto scratched his head and said, "Uh, well, I wanted to get some ramen but looks like the old man is out. And, well, I haven't eaten all day so, um, heheh…"

Hinata frowned for a moment when heard his story but the light came back to her face and she smiled. She took his hand in hers and stood up. "Come with me, Naruto-kun," she said sweetly.

Naruto felt himself looking up at her and was curious about what he saw. The sun was hanging low signaling the coming of the evening. The breeze blew gently against them and Naruto watched Hinata's long hair blow with it. She continued to smile as she used her free hand to shield herself a little from the wind. "Sure…." he replied, almost in a trance as she helped him stand up.

Hinata led them to the market street and led them around a few stores. Naruto would patiently wait for outside most of them though. Hinata asked him why but he told her he preferred waiting. Hinata would come out with a few bags and Naruto would take them and then they would move on to the next one. "Um, Hinata, why are we going grocery shopping?" Naruto asked. He didn't mind helping Hinata, it's not like he had anything better to do, but he was still hungry after all.

"Well I can't very well make you any ramen without any of the ingredients, now can I?" She asked.

Naruto blinked a moment and asked, "Wait! You're gonna make me some ramen?" Naruto asked.

"Well, sure. I made that bento we had on that mission we had together, after all. Or do you not remember?" she asked, looking slightly disappointed at the possibility that Naruto had forgotten about the mission to capture Gosunkugi.

Naruto smiled as the memory of the rice balls shaped like his head came back to him. "Oh yeah, I remember that. But wait, I didn't know you could make ramen too."

"Well I haven't tried it before," Hinata admitted.

"So this will be…"

"That's right, my first time. But since it's for Naruto-kun I'll make sure it's the very best!" she declared.

Naruto tried to look hopeful. He knew Hinata was a great cook and all but he wasn't sure anyone could beat the old man at ramen. Once they got back to Naruto's apartment, Hinata told Naruto to wait on the couch. He complied as she went to work in the kitchen. He heard some noises that sounded like she was digging through the few kitchen supplies he had. Not that Naruto couldn't afford them it was just he ate out more then not and very rarely cooked for himself so there was not much point. After about an hour he started to smell something coming from the kitchen. It was a light smell that tickled the underside of his nose. As if he was taking in the fresh morning dampness after a rain. Then about twenty minutes later, she came out carrying a large bowl in her hand. "All done!" she announced.

Naruto's mouth was watering at this point. The smell was so strong, so near, as if his mind was trying to figure out the taste before his tongue. But he didn't say anything, too eager with anticipation.

Hinata could see the hunger in Naruto's eyes. Though all of sudden she felt her confidence swaying. What if he didn't like it? She shook her head, now was not the time. Naruto was hungry that is what mattered. She took the pair of chopsticks in her hands and sat down next to him. "I'll...I'll feed you if you want," Hinata said shyly.

Naruto didn't know why she was so nervous but he liked the offer since most of his muscles were sore from the day. "That would be great Hinata!"

"R-right!" she said. Then with one hand holding the bowl and the other holding the chopsticks, she took a large portion of the noodles and brought it to Naruto's lips.

Naruto didn't even notice Hinata's hand was shaking, too enamoured with the scent coming from the chopsticks. He finally took that first bite. Instantly he felt his mouth burst with flavor. The broth and noodles washed down his throat like a waterfall with the noodles themselves close behind. But it didn't end there, he felt their warmth even as they entered his stomach filling him greatly with just that one bite. "Wow Hinata, that was-"

Before he could finish and just as Hinata's eyes began to light up, several men wearing blank white porcelain masks and gray cloaks, most of them wielding a tantō in one of their hands, stormed into the room and surrounded the two. "Uzumaki Naruto?" one of the men asked.

"Naruto-kun, those are Root Anbu. Danzō's private and _illegal_ ninja unit," Hinata whispered.

"What the hell is so important that you had to interrupt my meal?!" Naruto shouted at the intruders as he stood up, sufficiently angry with their presence that he was ready to start a fight.

"You are under arrest for the murder of Shimura Danzō-sama," the earlier Root ninja said. In the next instant, Naruto found himself being restrained by half of the Root ninja present in his apartment. He was so sore and tired he didn't even have time to form his signature Clone seal and summon his own reinforcements before they slammed his head into the floor.

"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!" All of the men on top of Naruto were suddenly blown away as a force of wind hit them like a sledgehammer.

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled thankful for the rescue. But it was short lived, the man who had first spoken was behind Hinata in an instant, her attack had left her flank open. With a swift chop to the neck, Hinata fell like a rag doll.

"There will be none of that now."

And before Naruto could even think about doing anything to fight back, the men slammed his head down again, knocking him unconscious.

 **x-x**

 **A/N Hello my readers. Sorry it took so long to post this second chapter. I don't know why my motivation to write is so low these days. It could be any number of reasons, but I am still writing when I can find some inspiration. I am also still co-writing another fic some of you are reading called Healing the Sun so that takes some of my time here and there as well. I do want to at least finish both this story and HtS at some point. This fic might be the longer of the two. Also keep in mind that my co-author on HtS (who is also my beta reader on this fic) is a busy person as well and I can only get chapters out as fast as we can agree on the contents and edit everything. Also I gotta cut this A/N a bit short but I will try to answer review questions as chapters get posted because this fic does indeed have a lot of contradictions. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Imprisoned**

Naruto woke up on a hard metal floor and found his hands bound behind his back in metal cuffs. He felt weak, as if his whole body was being deprived of its chakra. He forced himself to a kneeling position and saw a small barred window. He pushed himself up to see outside and saw that he seemed to be in some sort of cart surrounded by men dressed in gray cloaks and blank white masks.

"Don't bother trying to escape. Those cuffs are sealing your chakra, so you're not going anywhere," one man, who unlike the others was completely covered in black and lacked the cloaks and masks of his companions, said.

"You bastards…" Naruto wheezed.

"Hold it! I gave no such order to arrest Naruto!" a voice yelled. Suddenly the cart and men were surrounded by Tsunade along with dozens of official Anbu as well as all of the jōnin sensei and Sakura.

"This is an exercise in futility, Hokage-sama, and a dangerous one at that. Orders are unnecessary in this instance," the man who had spoke to Naruto said. "We already knew who was guilty and did as the law required for the assassination of a village elder."

"Torune," Tsunade hissed. "I thought I smelled a slimeball."

"Hmph." The now identified Torune seemed unfazed by Tsunade's insult. "But suppose we were to allow Uzumaki to walk free. Do you understand what would happen then? When word spreads that the Hokage refused to allow the incarceration of someone who assassinated a village elder—"

 _"Disgraced_ village elder," Tsunade spat.

"I wonder if the populace would agree with you there," Torune continued. "Disgraced though he may have been in his latter years, there is still a significant portion of villagers who will feel that Danzō-sama's views were right after all, especially now that he has been murdered. They may even revolt against you when they learn you released his murderer. A Hokage who is an accessory to murder? Best-case scenario, your credibility would quickly evaporate into thin air."

"Naruto would never do something like that," Kakashi said. "He doesn't even know your master. This is out of character for him." Naruto could only feebly nod.

The clouds above their heads darkened and the wind picked up violently. Thunder crashed in the distance and the rain began to pour. But Torune just smiled.

"Out of character for Naruto perhaps, but not for the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. A lapse of control over the tailed beast inside him does not absolve him of guilt over this high crime."

"You bastards planned this," Asuma said, pulling out his weapons and readying himself to strike down every single Root Anbu in the vicinity.

"Planned to kill our own master? You don't strike me as the kind of ninja to make bad jokes, Asuma-san."

"Naruto would have no reason to lose control unless Danzō provoked him, which would make it an act of self-defense."

"The evidence speaks to the contrary."

"What do you plan to do to Naruto?" Tsunade asked, showing a somewhat pained expression from being forced to break apart the argument between Asuma and Torune before it devolved into a lethal fight.

"There is a special prison in Kusagakure known as Hōzuki Castle," Torune said. "It is where notorious criminals from all of the shinobi villages are sent when they are captured, even if they happen to be a jinchūriki."

"Like hell that's gonna happen." Kakashi said, lifting his forehead protector off his left eye.

"You may want to restrain yourself, Kakashi because as you can see, I am acting well within my bounds of

authority," Torune said as he produced a scroll from his jacket. "Unless you would prefer to be remembered in the history books as the ninja responsible for the destruction of Konoha?"

Kakashi grabbed the scroll out of Torune's hand and opened it then read over the contents with a brief glance of his Sharingan. "This is an arrest warrant…from the Daimyō of the Land of Fire…" Kakashi gritted his teeth and gripped the scroll so tightly it crumbled in his hands.

"That's impossible!" Asuma said taking the scroll and looking at it himself. But when he saw the contents his face fell. "No…"

Finally Shizune took the scroll and she dropped it in a gasp as she read it. Tears filled her eyes and Tsunade didn't need to look at the scroll herself. The faces of her subordinates told her all she needed to know. She clenched her fists, trying to come up with something that might save Naruto, but nothing was coming.

"So if you will excuse me Hokage-sama, I have a schedule to keep," Torune said.

Naruto felt the cage begin to move and slowly saw his friends begin to shrink. "Baa-chan…?" Naruto called out feebly. Tsunade could only look away in a fit of rage trying to hold back her tears as she could not bring herself to face Naruto.

Naruto didn't understand, why weren't they helping him? They knew he didn't do anything wrong. "Kakashi-sensei…?" Naruto asked in barely a whisper. But Kakashi too, was only able to turn his face away. Finally Naruto turned to face Sakura, "Sakura-chan, please…" Naruto pleaded.

Sakura had tears in her eyes but for a brief moment Sakura stepped forward looking as if she was about to do something. But her arm dropped and her fist released. Naruto thought she said something but he couldn't make it out. All he saw was her getting smaller in the rain. "Sakura, why…?" Naruto whispered.

His hope fading, Naruto felt unconsciousness sneaking upon him once more.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

Naruto snapped up when he heard a scream outside. He forced himself back to his small window just as he saw one of the Root Anbu fly past in the other direction. He looked to see who his would be savior was and his eyes sparkled once more with hope when he saw Hinata on the attack. She was currently trying to force her way past two more of those gray-cloaked scumbags. However, now that she no longer had the element of surprise she was quickly being forced on the defensive.

"Oh, for fuck's sake. I was showing you a courtesy when my men merely rendered you unconscious. But it would appear that the former Hyūga heiress truly has a death wish!" Torune shouted. Before he could send out his bugs to attack, he felt an electrified kunai pressing against his neck.

"Call off your dogs or you are going to make me one happy felon," Kakashi warned, the tomoe on his Sharingan spinning rapidly.

"Do you know what you are doing?" Torune sneered.

"Indeed we do," Asuma said, pinning his wind blade against one of Hinata's assilants. "We are stopping you from murdering one of our students."

"You forget your place! She attacked us first!" Torune spat.

"She only attacked when you took Naruto from his residence without even producing a warrant beforehand," Tsunade said.

Hinata was about to protest when a strong hand grabbed her wrist and a voice whispered, "If you want to help Naruto, you had better cease what you are doing immediately."

"Neji-nii-san? But—"

"No buts, Hinata-sama. These are your father's orders."

"Otō-sama doesn't even know what's happening!" Hinata cried. "They are taking Naruto-kun! This is an _unlawful_ arrest being performed by _criminals_ masquerading as law enforcers!"

Neji sighed. "You leave me no choice." Naruto saw Neji's hand glow blue and knew what was about to happen. He mentally begged Neji to stop for a moment but it was too late. Quicker than normal eyes could see, Neji struck several of Hinata's tenketsu and Naruto was forced to watch the one person willing to help him fall once more to the ground.

Seeing Hinata collapse, Kakashi removed his blade as well as Asuma, but Torune was not satisfied. "You think we are just going to let that girl get away with this?" Torune growled.

"That's exactly what I expect you to do. Until you fetch me another one of those fancy arrest warrants you are still under my jurisdiction as your Hokage." Tsunade said. "Or should I let my jōnin loose on you? I don't know how much longer I can control them if I'm being honest. In fact I may just kill you myself if you piss me off the right way."

Torune's face twisted into an ugly scowl. He signaled to his men and Naruto watched again as his friends slowly became smaller and smaller. The last thing he heard was the guards talking to Torune. "Are you sure it's okay to let it go like that, sir?"

"The complication her survival presents is unimportant at this time. Our mission is still complete."

"…Hinata…" Naruto whispered as the darkness took him.

x-x

Everyone quickly filed back to Tsunade's office to get out of the rain, Neji carrying the unconscious Hinata on his back. No one spoke a word through the short walk but Tsunade could feel the cold stares which made the hair on her neck stand up. When they reached their destination, it was Kurenai who broke the silence:

"Is that it, then? We're going to let them walk away with Naruto, just like that?"

"I said no such thing!" Tsunade snapped. "We won't let it end here. Something is definitely wrong here. How could the Daimyō get an arrest warrant out for Naruto that quickly after Naruto arrived back in the village?"

"But that's not—"

"The only way we can help Naruto right now is prove beyond a shadow of a doubt he is innocent," Asuma interrupted Kurenai, placing a hand on her shoulder. She scowled at the physical contact, but otherwise did nothing.

"We were with him all of yesterday, though. Wouldn't that prove he didn't have the time to do it?" Sakura asked.

Neji set the still unconscious Hinata down on a chair and shook his head, "That won't work as an alibi. Hinata-sama last saw Naruto around twenty one hundred hours last night. The assassination took place at around oh five hundred hours this morning, so unless anyone can vouch for Naruto's whereabouts at that time then it won't do any good," Neji accounted. "And that's not accounting for the fact the Shadow Clone Jutsu is Naruto's signature technique, that he is uniquely able to create thousands of clones at once."

"Well, what evidence do they have against Naruto?" Sakura asked.

Tsunade sighed and sat down behind her desk. "Traces of the Kyūbi's chakra were all over the crime scene as well as Danzō's corpse. And yes, I inspected the corpse myself," she explained.

"How is that even possible?" Kakashi asked the most obvious question. "We would have known right away if there was another Kyūbi incident."

"I don't know!" Tsunade yelled. "If I did, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

Everyone remained silent after the outburst. It was understandable Tsunade was angry at herself for allowing this to happen so soon after Naruto had come home. As were they all in a small measure, after all they had done nothing but watch as Naruto had been taken away.

Everyone except for one, whose quiet tone understated the accusation in her words.

"What is there even to discuss?"

All eyes turned and saw Hinata was coming to and she was hunched over her chair, reeling from the soreness she felt from Neji's strike on her tenketsu.

"Hinata-sama!" Neji said, rushing to her side and offering her his hand. Only to be taken aback, along with everyone else in the room, when Hinata slapped him in the face.

"How could you all just let them take Naruto-kun away?" she gasped.

"Watch it, Hinata…" Tsunade growled.

"Or what?!" Hinata screamed. "You know! You all know Naruto-kun is innocent and yet none of you did a _goddamned_ thing to help him!"

Tsunade slammed her fist down on her desk and yelled, **"That does it! Hinata, I was going to overlook your first outburst, but that one just cost you. You are suspended indefinitely, without pay. Any further outbursts will get you a one-way trip to the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility. Now get the fuck out of my office!"**

Hinata looked like she wanted to continue cussing out Tsunade. But instead she grudgingly got out of her chair and walked to the door. But before she left she turned her head and whispered, "Naruto-kun would not have hesitated to help any of you no matter what kind of trouble you were in. Think about that," and then slammed the door hard enough to break the hinges on her way out, leaving the others inside the office in another long, awkward silence.

"I will be sure to give Hinata a harsh talk later, Hokage-sama," Kurenai said, bowing in apology.

Tsunade shook her head. "Don't bother, Kurenai. I only suspended her from duty because as long as this situation with Naruto remains unresolved, she won't be able to look at missions objectively."

Kurenai sighed and mumbled out, "I can't argue with that."

"It's only a suspension. Once we get Naruto-kun back, things will calm down," Shizune said.

"The problem we're facing is, since Naruto obviously didn't kill Danzō, locating whoever is truly responsible," Kakashi stated.

"In all likelihood, this is a set up and I'm convinced Danzō orchestrated the whole thing."

"That would mean Danzō is alive somehow. But Tsunade-sama inspected the body herself," Sakura pointed out.

"Could someone other than Root want to frame Naruto-kun? There are plenty of people that want Danzō dead, but why pin the murder on Naruto-kun?" Shizune asked.

"And for that matter, why would Danzō let himself be taken out in the first place?" Asuma added to Shizune's questions. "Danzō's policy is to sacrifice everything for the mission and the village, but he isn't the type of person who's capable of following his own policy and making himself a martyr."

"Given his reputation prior to becoming a ninja, Naruto would be the most convenient and most practical victim of such a crime. Once word gets out that Danzō is dead and people hear that Naruto was supposedly responsible, they won't even give it a second thought. They will just automatically believe Naruto is guilty," Guy reasoned. Everyone still present in the office turned their heads, stunned that Might Guy, the most eccentric and least intelligent jōnin among them would be the first to arrive at, or at least announce that conclusion.

"I don't think he's wrong, though," Sakura said. "Naruto has been gone for two years, and then he comes back and the very next day, Danzō dies. It's all too convenient for most people to believe."

"Okay, Kurenai," Tsunade addressed the female jōnin, tabling the current discussion.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"I want you to bring all of the guards who were on watch when Danzō was killed to Torture and Interrogation and find out what they saw or didn't see. Use every jutsu at your disposal to uncover the truth," Tsunade said. Kurenai nodded and disappeared out the open window. "The rest of you wait for further instructions," she continued towards the rest of the assembled ninja. "I know what you're going to say but with the Daimyō card in play, there's nothing else we can do until we have more information."

"But—" Sakura was about to protest when she felt Kakashi put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and he just gave her a stern look telling her to be quiet.

"Good. You all are dismissed." Tsunade said.

Everyone but Tsunade and Shizune began to slowly move out of the room not saying anything. Kakashi and Sakura were at the back of the group when Kakashi suddenly pulled Sakura aside. "Sakura…" He said with a stern tone.

"Kakashi-sensei, you can't just mean to abandon Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Of course not, but what you were about to do would have earned you a similar or harsher punishment than the one Hinata received. What help can you be to Naruto if you're suspended or imprisoned?"

Sakura clenched her fists and tears started forming in her eyes. "What help was I to him when they dragged him off?" she asked bitterly. "I couldn't save Sasuke-kun and now I couldn't save Naruto. I'm so _useless!"_ she screamed as she punched a hole through the wall.

Kakashi sighed and put his hand on her shoulder. "I promise we'll get Naruto back. I told you I don't plan on abandoning him, didn't I?"

Sakura looked up, not daring to believe what Kakashi was implying. "You mean…?"

"I do, but if we get caught, we can expect a lot worse than the suspension Tsunade-sama handed Hinata. Are you okay with taking that risk?"

"What exactly are we going to do?" Sakura asked.

"Have you had a chance to examine Danzō's body yet?" Kakashi asked.

"No, why?"

"Well, that's where we're going to start." And before Sakura could ask him why they were going to contravene Tsunade's orders, he was running in the direction of the morgue.

x-x

For two days and nights, Naruto drifted in and out of consciousness. His dreams were muddled and he could never remember any details of them during his brief moments of awareness. The chakra deprivation he felt prevented him from forming any coherent thoughts.

When he regained full awareness, the cart had arrived at its destination, an enormous castle situated atop a cliff overlooking a large lake. The castle was heavily fortified and resembled none of the other castles Naruto had seen during his journeys. But he was not given any time to take in his new surroundings. A hard shove from one of those gray-cloaked scumbags forced him out of the cart; a second shove from the same scumbag was a silent order to start walking towards the castle. Still surrounded by those Root bastards, Naruto was forced up several flights of stairs until he arrived at a reinforced door. Behind the door sat a man with long black hair wearing some sort of high-collared gray suit, who until his arrival had been busy looking over scrolls.

"And what do we have here?" the man asked.

"Mui-sama, this is Uzumaki Naruto, jinchūriki of the _Kyūbi no Yōko_ and S-rank felon convicted of the assassination of Shimura Danzō-sama," Torune spoke up.

The man Torune had identified as Mui raised an eyebrow at Naruto. "I always thought that warhawk would be harder to kill than that," he commented as he rose from his chair and more closely examined Naruto. "Then again, that thing inside you is quite formidable."

"I didn't do a damn thing," Naruto growled. "That old geezer's cronies are fucking liars!"

"Does it look like I care what you have to say?" Mui asked. He took a key from his pocket and inserted it into the keyhole on Naruto's cuffs with his left hand, but his right hand was already glowing dark red. He did not give Naruto even a single moment to build up any hopes before striking. "Fire Style: Celestial Prison!" he shouted, slamming his palm into Naruto's abdomen and sending him out of the room and slamming against the steel wall on the other side.

"What the hell was that for?!" Naruto yelled.

"I'd be careful with your tone. I just marked you with my jutsu that seals all your chakra. Trying to use any chakra will cause you excruciating pain and if you move to far from me, you will burn to ash in a matter of seconds," Mui said.

"I just told you I'm innocent!" Naruto yelled. "Those bastards who brought me here framed me!"

Mui looked at the other two men in the room and they nodded forcing Naruto to his feet. "As I said before, I do not care what you have to say on the matter, Uzumaki Naruto. Even if you are innocent as you claim, all that matters is that you are my prisoner. You will not be allowed to leave alive unless your home village requests your release, a village whose trust you have lost. But given what you are, I do not know why they even trusted you at all in the first place, nor why they would ever come for you."

"You're gonna regret saying that," Naruto warned the castle's warden. His rage giving him a renewed strength, he decked Torune and knocked the other Root Anbu out with a swift roundhouse kick, then quickly formed his signature hand seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted. The unmistakable smoke cloud appeared, and for a moment, Naruto smirked. But the smirk faded when the smoke cleared to reveal that Naruto had only managed to create one clone. And before he could figure out why, he fell to his knees, writhing in pain. He felt as though his entire body was burning from the inside out.

"You surprised me just now. It's astonishing that you have enough chakra to render my seal at least partially ineffective," Mui said. "Even so, you will find that any jutsu you can use will have their effectiveness severely reduced. On top of that, there are numerous death traps surrounding this fortress, such as the many whirlpools at the bottom of the cliff it rests on. So you can still forget about trying to escape." Naruto was unable to reply due to his intense pain. Torune, however, had recovered from his attack and was now lifting the blonde up off the ground by his hair with one hand, punching him rapidly with the other.

"Behave, you filthy fox," Torune snarled at Naruto after about ten punches. Naruto lacked the strength to do more than give him a weak glare.

"Back down, Torune, lest you wish to become a prisoner here yourself," Mui warned. Torune clearly wanted to inflict more physical punishment on Naruto, but obeyed and roughly dropped him back on his feet. The other two Root Anbu, who were now accompanied by a pair of prison guards, took up positions on each side of Naruto and started marching him down the stairs. Torune then closed the door behind him, leaving Mui to continue reading the scrolls on his desk.

"Where the hell are you bastards taking me now?" Naruto demanded. He was given his answer when the Root Anbu and guards arrived at a small cell.

"Hōzuki Castle Regulation Twenty-Three states that prisoners who cause trouble are given three days of solitary confinement for their first offense," Torune gleefully replied. "Though I believe Mui-sama intends to make an exception for you and leave you to rot in there for the rest of your pathetic life."

"Just you wait, asshole. Once I get out of here—" Naruto started yelling as the guards shoved him inside, only to be cut off when Torune commanded his rinkaichū to attack. Once again, he dropped to his knees and convulsed in agony.

"This is your new reality, fox. No one will come to your rescue. And even if they do, you will never be allowed to leave this place." With that last parting shot, Torune recalled his rinkaichū and turned his back on Naruto, and the other Root Anbu and guards slammed the cell door.

x-x

For the past two days since Naruto's _abduction_ (she refused to see it as a lawful arrest) and the Hokage's refusal to stop it from happening, Hinata had shut herself away in her bedroom, rejecting all human contact. She was angry with everyone in the village, with Tsunade, Neji and her father being the biggest recipients of her anger. Tsunade for allowing Naruto to be taken away, Neji for attacking her when she alone was willing to stand up for Naruto, and her father for giving Neji the order to follow her without her knowledge or consent. And now Naruto was somewhere outside the Land of Fire, somewhere she could do nothing for him. Not that she had been allowed to do anything for him here.

Hinata knew her friends and family were quickly getting fed up with her hiding from them, but she wasn't in the mood to care about their sensibilities. She had even cussed out her teammates when they visited earlier today and tried getting her to come out. She had not forgiven anyone for their inaction or complicity when Naruto was taken, and she was not about to even consider the thought of forgiving them. It was their fault Naruto was gone.

But by nightfall, they had grown fed up with her.

Hinata heard a knock on her door and turned away, facing the window. A few seconds later, the door slid open and her father walked inside without waiting for her to acknowledge his presence.

"You are still angry over what Neji did two days ago," Hiashi observed. Hinata did not move at all from her spot on the floor. "If it is of any consolation, that incident was not how I imagined things turning out. My reasons for ordering him to follow you are unrelated to Naruto's _abduction."_ _That_ got Hinata's attention. She reluctantly stood up and turned to face him. "Now that you have finally decided to acknowledge someone, we can get down to business. Shortly after you returned home, Hokage-sama sent an Anbu to notify me of your ongoing suspension."

"Are you going to tell me I was out of line too?" Hinata asked bitterly.

"Do you realize that had Neji not stopped you when he did, you would most likely be dead right now?" Hiashi asked in reply, his tone unintentionally harsh.

Hinata sat back down and buried her face in her legs. "What do you want, _Otō-sama?"_ she forced herself to ask.

"Hōzuki Castle overlooks a lake. In the center of that lake, about five kilometers away from that castle, there is a small island that houses a village where supplies head to the castle are sent to go through inspections. I will procure a temporary residence for you there, so pack your things." Hinata's face shot up and she looked at her father with widened eyes, unable to believe what he was saying, but also unable to verbally respond. "The day after you arrive, take this scroll to the castle's warden, who goes by the name of Mui," Hiashi continued, handing her the scroll. "And give him this as well," he added, reaching under his robes for a small but heavy pouch.

Hinata's eyes narrowed at the pouch. Her father was ordering her to bribe the warden of Hōzuki Castle. "Why?" she asked, skeptical.

"Just make sure you use it correctly should the situation require it. With your skills as a ninja, you should have no problem providing for yourself during your stay. But while you are there, I will expect you to contact me on a regular basis." Hiashi turned to leave and finished by saying, "I would advise you to make haste. Your boat leaves the day after tomorrow." He closed the door before his daughter could say anything in response.

Still slightly dumbfounded by what had happened, Hinata slowly rose back to her feet as she pondered what had just happened. She looked at her hands and saw that on top of the scroll and bribe, her father had given her a boat ticket along with another fifty thousand ryō from the clan's communal funds, given to ease the financial burdens she would face on that island.

"A village near Hōzuki Castle," Hinata murmured. "Otō-sama…are you planning to…?" She didn't finish that spoken thought before she grabbed her mission backpack and tossed all the supplies she had immediate need of inside. As she tossed it over her back haphazardly, slipped on her sandals and dashed out of her room, she ran past Hanabi, who was greatly surprised by her appearance.

"Onee-sama?" Hanabi asked. But Hinata didn't hear her. She just kept running, vanishing into the night.

x-x

 **Hi guys. Yeah it's me again here with another chapter. Before anyone points it out, I am aware that Torune is OOC in this chapter since members of Root usually don't have any personality to speak of, but unfortunately, this was a necessity, and the in-story reasons for Torune acting OOC may be explained in a later chapter. Anyway, it's been a bit difficult to write lately due to personal life and such but I will still work on the fic here and there when I can. I appreciate all my faithful followers and readers and always enjoy hearing feedback on the story. Anyway I'm gonna keep this A/N short but don't hesitate to ask questions and i'll do my best to answer them. Till next chapter then.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Blood Prison**

Four days had now passed since Naruto Uzumaki was arrested by decree of the Daimyō. Four days of knowing Naruto was innocent, four days of not being able to legally do a damn thing about it. And four days of Sakura Haruno and Kakashi Hatake taking unauthorized action by continuing to examine the mangled corpse of Danzō Shimura, in the hope that they would discover something to validate their belief in Naruto's innocence.

"Still haven't found anything suspicious?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura shook her head. "This is definitely Danzō. Just looking at the damage to his body, it's possible the Nine-Tails could have actually done this. Whoever set Naruto up planned this very thoroughly."

Kakashi took another look out into the hallway before addressing Sakura. "Well, you'd better find something soon that will clear Naruto's name. I'm not sure how many more times I can get us in here before Hokage-sama catches us."

"None of this makes any sense," Sakura complained. "First off, Asuma-sensei told the truth when he said Danzō would never allow himself to be killed like this, not even if it was for the sake of the village. Second, if it was the Nine-Tails, wouldn't the whole village have felt its malicious chakra and responded? There should have been a lot more casualties if Naruto actually lost control over the fox. Either it's a miracle that only one person was killed…"

"Or the ninja who set this up somehow acquired residual traces of the Kyūbi's chakra from one of its previous rampages," Kakashi finished her thought. "Plus, there's the issue of how Naruto would have taken back control on his own. It's not that I don't believe he'll be capable in the future, but going by Jiraiya-sama's reports, he's definitely not capable of doing it now."

Sakura sighed. "In the meantime, it looks like it'll be pointless to keep examining the body today. If I was going to find anything this time, I would've done it by now."

"Then put the body back and we'll break in again tomorrow," Kakashi instructed. Sakura nodded.

"This is the other thing I don't understand, Kakashi-sensei. What do you think is here that I can find that Tsunade-shishō couldn't?"

"Danzō would have done everything in his power to fool Hokage-sama," Kakashi stated the obvious. "We're counting on him not thinking far enough ahead to account for your own examinations."

Sakura nodded again as she slid the corpse back into its cold chamber. "But what am I even looking for anyway?" She did not receive an answer from Kakashi as they sneaked out of the morgue and walked towards the shopping district.

x-x

"I wonder what's going through Naruto's mind right now," Kakashi thought aloud as they walked past Ramen Ichiraku. "It's been four days since the mistaken arrest. He must feel like we betrayed him and sent him to die."

Sakura's shoulders were slumped as she fell behind her former instructor. "Is Hōzuki Castle that bad, Kakashi-sensei?"

"It's the most notorious and most secure prison in the Shinobi Nations. Designed specifically to keep all rogue ninja sent there locked away until death. In his time since taking up the position of warden, Mui has personally killed every prisoner who has ever tried to escape. All we can do is hope Naruto doesn't do anything reckless before we can clear his name and rescue him."

"Knowing Naruto, he's _already_ done something reckless," Sakura muttered. Kakashi was about to add a comment when they heard a voice calling out to them from behind.

"Hey! Kakashi-sensei, Sakura!"

The two turned around to see Kiba and Shino running towards them. Judging by their posture when they stopped and their heavy breathing, they had been trying to get a hold of someone for a while.

"What's with you two?" Sakura asked. "Did you lose something?"

"More like some _one,"_ Shino muttered.

"Hinata's gone! We can't find her anywhere in the village!" Kiba exclaimed.

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed at Hinata's teammates while Sakura's eyes widened. "What do you mean, Hinata is missing?" Kakashi asked.

"I mean exactly what I said," an increasingly annoyed Shino replied. "Kiba and I attempted to confront Hinata at the Hyūga estate this morning, but the only female present there at that time was her sister, Hanabi. Hanabi explained that she saw Hinata leave the estate in the middle of the night two nights ago."

"What of Hiashi-sama and Neji?"

"Nope," Kiba said. "Hinata's old man was gone too, and her cousin just gave us the cold shoulder and ignored everything we said."

"Why, I oughta—" Sakura tried saying, but was cut off by Kakashi firmly gripping her shoulder.

"Kiba almost escalated the situation into open conflict," Shino continued. "Luckily, I was able to restrain him from attacking Neji, who did not acknowledge our presence and is going out of his way to avoid us."

Sakura pulled herself out of Kakashi's grip. "I think it's time—"

"I agree," Kakashi cut her off again. "But you need to go back to the hospital. _I_ will be paying the Hyūga Clan a visit."

x-x

The storm system that started the day of Naruto's mistaken arrest had traveled west and was still active over Hinata's destination. Hinata was woefully underdressed for the weather, her purple hooded jacket completely soaked and the straw hat offered to her by the ferry master doing absolutely nothing to shield her from the elements. Not that she paid any mind to her present physical state. Her singular focus since her father sent her here was on Naruto's liberation from the towering fortress at the edge of this lake. And so she soldiered on through the heavy downpour and gusts towards the towering fortress. The rain impaired her vision and the wind slowed her movements, but she would not allow the weather or any other obstacle to triumph over her will.

When Hinata reached the gate, she grew annoyed. There were no guards present, here or anywhere else on the castle grounds. There was, however, a window carved into the center of the gate along with a small indent which held a knocker. Hinata used it and crossed her arms, waiting for someone to answer. A few seconds later, a very large man opened the window. Hinata saw that he was in a foul mood.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"Excuse me, but I am here to request an audience with Mui-san."

The guard raised an eyebrow. "Now what could Aruji-sama have to discuss with you? Don't waste my time."

"It would not be in your best interests to refuse me," Hinata said coldly.

"I will decide what is in my best interests. Now get lost," the guard snapped and was about to close the window.

"Hold it right there," a new voice said. The guard turned around to face the owner of that voice, while Hinata flinched when he came into view. This new person's demeanor was uncomfortably similar to her father's, so cold and distant. As he approached, Hinata issued a silent prayer, begging for this person not to be who she feared.

"Now this is a surprise. It is not often that Hōzuki Castle receives visitors."

"Please allow me to get rid of her, Aruji-sama," the guard said.

"That will be unnecessary." The guard scowled, but nodded and pushed a button on his side of the gate to force it to open. Mui soon came into full view of Hinata, who briefly froze up; his physical appearance was causing her to experience flashbacks of the verbal and occasional physical abuse she received from her father and clan elders when she was younger.

"Now then. You should follow me to somewhere more private, Ojō-san," Mui directly addressed Hinata, who shivered at the ice in his voice.

"Thank you, Mui-san," Hinata forced herself to reply as Mui turned to walk back towards the castle and she followed behind.

x-x

"So, miss…?" Mui enquired once he was back in his office.

"Hyūga Hinata," Hinata introduced herself.

"How may I help you, Hinata-san?"

Hinata opened her mouth, about to say the first thing on her mind, then cleared her throat and gave Mui a glare worthy of the most stoic members of her clan. "I am here on official business from Konohagakure no Sato to demand the immediate release of Uzumaki Naruto from Hōzuki Castle."

Mui met her glare with a raised eyebrow. "The jinchūruki that Torune apprehended and delivered a few days ago?" he asked. Hinata gave him a firm nod, and he gave the appearance of thoughtfulness before replying, "It is interesting that Konoha would demand an assassin's release from my prison so quickly after his incarceration. But I must decline until I receive official confirmation."

Hinata showed no outward reaction; she had predicted Mui would respond in this manner, and chose to press further, intending to make the warden dig his own grave. "In that case, I will have no choice but to report your noncompliance with this demand to Hokage-sama. I will also demand that you permit me to visit Naruto before I depart, to ensure that he is not being mistreated."

Mui remained silent for a few moments, feigning the appearance of contemplating her words. "Let us get some things straightened out here, Hinata-san. You have issued two very peculiar demands. The first was to release an S-rank felon—"

"Naruto-kun is innocent." The words were out of Hinata's mouth before she could stop herself. To her credit, she did not express any body language that would indicate she had slipped up. However, this still worked against her, as her tone told Mui everything he needed to know.

 _'An interesting form of address she uses for the jinchūriki,'_ Mui observed. _'Her tone expresses both affection for the prisoner, and a certain level of conviction. She truly believes the jinchūriki did not commit his high crime.'_ "I am beginning to understand the _real_ reason you are here, and I have every reason to doubt it has anything to do with official business," Mui pressed his verbal counterattack. "And I will also refuse to comply with your second demand."

Hinata cursed under her breath. That one slip-up had caused Mui to call her bluff, and it was going to cost her dearly. She had no choice but to resort to the underhanded methods her father advised her would be necessary to deal with Mui. "Then perhaps _this_ will make you change your tune," she muttered as she dropped the scroll and sack of ryō Hiashi gave her on Mui's desk.

"So now you resort to bribery and blackmail in a futile effort to save face," Mui said coolly as he picked up the scroll and opened it, showing a slight hint of curiosity in his facial features.

And in an instant, his smug demeanor burned away.

"What is this?" he demanded, his voice cracking. Hinata remained impassive, not moving a single muscle; though internally she was panicking herself, wondering just what it was her father knew about Hōzuki Castle's master that could make him react this way.

"Are you now willing to agree to my demands?" Hinata replied. It was another bluff, but with Mui's reaction to the scroll she was more confident that he would fold his hand.

Sure enough, Mui did, after taking a few seconds to weigh the bag of ryō in his hand. "We'd best not keep the prisoner waiting," he said, after crushing the scroll in his hand and igniting it with his chakra, dropping it into a trash bin as it burned.

Hinata's mind was racing as she allowed Mui to lead her out of his office and up several flights of stairs. She managed to sell the lie that she knew what her father had written on that scroll, but she knew she would not be able to put on a repeat performance until she found out what he knew about the warden. She needed leverage.

"The jinchūriki is being kept in solitary confinement," Mui both explained to and warned Hinata. "This section of the prison has our highest security. You would do well not to try anything that would warrant action from the guards."

Hinata remained silent until Mui stopped in front of one particular cell. She turned her head towards the cell, peering through the barred window and seeing a shadow in the back. "Naruto-kun?" she called out. At first, there was no verbal response as Mui unlocked the door. But as it opened, she barely managed to make out a weak voice coming from inside the cell.

"That voice…I know that voice…"

Hinata turned back to Mui, unable to conceal the horror she felt from just that first hint of Naruto's condition. "Let us get _this_ straightened out, Mui," she said harshly. "Your role in this debacle will be punished severely. Once Hokage-sama learns that you have abused Naruto-kun, there is nothing that will protect you from her wrath. Konoha will declare war on your country. You will not survive. Your country will not survive. Killing me now will not prevent word of this from reaching Konoha. Your days are numbered."

Mui gave her a wicked smile as small flames appeared on his fingertips. "If war will bring Kusagakure to greatness…then I welcome it!" he shouted, slamming his hand into her abdomen. Hinata was blown towards the back of the cell, but was stopped from hitting the wall by the shadow catching her in his arms.

"I can't have you trying to spy on me during your stay. Your all-seeing eyes will see nothing without my explicit approval," Mui said coldly as he slammed the cell door shut on Hinata. "If you behave, I may grant you the mercy of releasing the seal and permitting you to leave once I decide visiting hours are over. Welcome to the Blood Prison, Hinata."

x-x

The first few minutes of Hinata's "visit" were lost in a hazy blur. She hadn't quite passed out, but she was in considerable pain, and her mind was an almost total blank. It took her far longer than it should have to register what had happened to her. She had been knocked towards the wall, but didn't impact it; Naruto must have caught her. Sure enough, as her vision recovered she saw Naruto kneeling at her side, while she was laying on the floor.

"Ngh…" Hinata groaned, trying to sit up. Naruto pushed her back down and unzipped her jacket, and started pushing up the mesh armor underneath, exposing the _sarashi_ bindings around her breasts. _That_ brought her back to full awareness.

"Na-Na-Naruto-kun!" Hinata stammered. Why was Naruto doing this? Her heart wasn't ready for this! Worse, some of the elders would definitely try to have her killed once they found out she had done this! Not because it was with Naruto specifically, but because she had let it happen at all. It was happening so suddenly that she couldn't form the words to tell Naruto to stop, and she was too weak from whatever Mui did to her to physically force him to stop. She was half a second away from going into full-blown panic mode when Naruto stopped on his own and whispered angrily,

"That son of a bitch…"

Hinata felt a sudden chill run down her spine. Naruto's voice was filled with malice, concentrated heavily enough that it could freeze a lesser person's soul. She then saw that Naruto's eyes had turned red and his face was contorted into an expression of pure rage. She had never been more terrified in her life than she was now. But only until she figured out why Naruto was enraged. It took her mind a few seconds to register the fact, but Naruto was staring at the Celestial Prison seal Mui applied to her, the red markings spread across her stomach and snaking upward to wrap around her neck. And once she noticed this, she felt a burning sensation coming from the seal, and writhed in pain. She then felt Naruto lift her off the floor and prop her up against the back wall of the cell, allowing her mesh armor to fall back down and cover the seal. His eyes were back to normal and his rage had largely disappeared, with worry rushing in to fill the void.

"What the hell are you doing here, Hinata?" Naruto demanded, gripping her shoulders tightly. Hinata tried to come up with an explanation, but only managed to stutter out some incoherent nonsense. How could she have explained she was here to break Naruto out, if Naruto himself had not been able to escape on his own? Naruto sighed and shook his head. "Well, whatever. It doesn't matter. Right now, we need to get you outta here." He stood and marched over to the door, gripping the bars on the small window with both hands. "Hey, you bastard! Get back here and take that seal off Hinata right now!" he yelled at the top of the lungs.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered while Naruto kept yelling. Tears started falling from her eyes as she shifted to a kneeling position. _'Again…Naruto-kun is trying to protect one of his precious people without any regard for his own well-being…and there isn't anything I can do for him in return…'_ "I'm sorry!" she cried.

Naruto stopped yelling and slowly turned around, eyes widening at the sight of Hinata bawling her eyes out. "What did you say?"

"I couldn't help you back then…when they took you away that day…"

Naruto walked over to Hinata and rubbed her shoulders. "Please don't worry about it. I know you tried your best."

"My best wasn't good enough!" Hinata wailed, leaving Naruto's jaw hanging open. "I don't even know why I came here in the first place!" she continued while Naruto remained stunned into speechlessness. "It's not like I have any power to get you out of here…even now, all I can ever seem to do is make you worry…" Her voice trailed off; she took a full minute to focus on her breathing, though there were still tears flowing after she had calmed herself. "So I guess the reason I am here now is to apologize to you in person, Naruto-kun. And also…because I needed to see you."

Naruto had no idea what he was supposed to say to that. As much as he hated Hinata putting herself in danger like this, the fact she had done so for his sake deeply moved him. This reaffirmation that he had at least one person who would go through hell and back just for him…

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked out of surprise. Naruto had gone from remaining silent, to suddenly pulling her into his embrace.

"None of that matters, Hinata," Naruto said softly. "I'm just glad you're okay for now."

Hinata buried her face in Naruto's shoulder in a futile effort to hide her losing battle against her tears. She had been so certain that Naruto would be angry with her for doing something this reckless. Angry with her leaving without authorization (which Naruto didn't know about yet, but Hinata's choice to come here for him made her, by definition, a missing-nin), angry because she had created another burden for him with her presence. But Naruto was not directing any of his anger at her. Naruto was treating her with kindness she did not deserve.

"Don't cry, Hinata," Naruto whispered to her, gently lifting her head off his shoulder and wiping away her tears with his thumbs. The affection he showed her instantly turned Hinata's regrets into deep embarrassment, and she turned away, this time trying to hide her blush. Again, it was futile; Naruto quickly noticed her face turning red and pressed his hand against her forehead. "You feel pretty hot. It must be that damn seal doing this to you."

"It's not that, Naruto-kun," Hinata tried to assure him. "Well, I mean, I suppose part of it is from the seal, but that's not the main reason."

"If you say so." And then his next words after dismissing that topic were more in line with what Hinata expected of him: "But seriously, Hinata, you need to go home right now." The sudden change in tone still left Hinata feeling slightly shocked.

"Wha…" she tried to ask.

"Listen, Hinata. If I'm gonna bust out of here, I have to do it on my own. That means you need to get outta here first. I dunno what else that Mui prick has up his sleeves but as long as you have that seal, there isn't a damn thing you can do for me here."

"So I am still nothing more than a burden," Hinata said, on the verge of releasing another wave of tears.

Naruto shook his head and grabbed Hinata's shoulders tightly. "That's not it, Hinata," he said, and sighed when he saw how miserable Hinata felt and knew she didn't understand his meaning. "I can't protect you as long as we both have this seal. You could burn to death at any time. Please understand, Hinata. I don't want anything bad to happen to you." He paused briefly and lowered his head, then continued in a more subdued tone, "I can't bear the thought of losing you…"

"Naruto-kun…" Now Hinata was the one who did not know how to respond. Naruto was already so different now than when she last saw him before he was framed for Danzō's murder and dragged here. _'But those four days should not have caused such a drastic change in his behavior on their own,'_ she noted as she tried to analyze Naruto's behavior year. _'Did something happen to Naruto-kun on his training journey with Jiraiya-sama?'_ she wondered, keeping the question internalized because she knew it was not the right time to ask him. "Naruto-kun, to be honest, while I did come here to try to get you released from this prison…it was driven by my need to see you. I needed to see you and make sure you were okay, Naruto-kun…"

Naruto was surprised by Hinata's admission. "What…?"

"Do you understand?" Hinata continued, her eyes still moist with tears that could start falling again at any given moment. "If you understand, then please don't send me away. I want to be here. I want to take away some of the pain and loneliness you must be feeling."

Naruto's first thought was to tell Hinata that no, even though he understood what she was feeling he was not okay with her being here, not even for his sake. He _was_ certainly lonely, but her safety was his highest priority and he would gladly endure that loneliness as long as she escaped and didn't put herself back in harm's way by returning. But his eyes made contact with hers and he saw that telling her this would make her cry again, and he couldn't bear to see Hinata crying.

So instead, he asked, "Is there even anywhere around here you can stay?"

Hinata's face lit up. "There is a small island in the center of the lake where supplies headed to the castle are inspected. I should be able to stay there for the time being," she explained.

Naruto sat against his bed. "Okay then, but you gotta promise me something. If I think for one second the bastard in charge of this place is threatening your life, you'll get the hell out of here immediately. Got it?"

Hinata felt that Naruto had trapped her between the proverbial rock and hard place with his demand. If she made this promise, she would not be able to go back on her word even if it meant abandoning Naruto. She would never be able to live with herself if he died because she ran away. She could not place her life before his. But Naruto was placing more value on her life than he did on his own. Still, she could lie to Naruto just to ease his mind. She could not make a promise she would be incapable of keeping.

"No," Hinata said firmly. "No, I cannot promise you that."

"Didn't you listen to me earlier?" Naruto almost shouted. "There's _nothing_ you can do to save me if it comes down to that, Hinata! I won't let you throw your life away like that!"

"Even if there truly is nothing I can do to save you, how can I expect to continue my life knowing I left you here to die? I _can't_ do that, Naruto-kun! I can't abandon you, just as you can't abandon any of your friends. I would sooner die by your side, than live with the dishonor of abandoning someone precious to me."

Naruto ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Why are you being so difficult, Hinata?" he asked. Hinata did not reply and just gave him a look that tried to be stern with him but was filled with sadness. He could only describe it as simply _that look,_ and it instantly drained him of his willingness to continue the argument. For better or worse, Hinata would never willingly leave his side. That didn't make it any easier for him to accept her stubbornness when it came to this issue.

"So be it," Naruto whispered after several uncomfortable minutes of silence and a deep breath his body had forgotten to release. He patted the floor next to him to signal Hinata to sit against the bed with him, as close to him as she was comfortable.

"Anyway, I'm the one who should be apologizing for all of this, Hinata," Naruto then tried to change the subject. "I must be pretty lame to get arrested while on a date, huh?" he added with a fake laugh. Hinata's head snapped to her left to look at Naruto, unable to believe that she had heard what he just said. Naturally, Naruto dismissed it a few seconds later after seeing her shocked reaction. "I'm just kidding," he said, mistaking her shock for offense.

Hinata sighed at Naruto. "It's not fair…" she said. Seeing Naruto's questioning look, she continued, "You didn't do anything wrong. And I know I'm not the only one in Konoha who knows you're innocent, so why isn't Hokage-sama doing anything to set you free?"

"I'm sure Tsunade-bā-chan is trying to think of something," Naruto forced himself to say. His attempt to reassure Hinata failed entirely; his tone made it clear to her that he was already losing faith in his precious people.

"And you had just come back to me, too…" Hinata whispered.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked twice. "What was that, Hinata?"

"I was just mentioning how this happened so soon after you returned home," Hinata explained. Naruto nodded and his face darkened.

"Yeah. I'm not gonna lie, that pisses me off. When I find the guy who framed me, I'm gonna beat the fuck outta him," Naruto growled. His griping was completely ruined a second later when Hinata covered her mouth to suppress the sound of giggles. He frowned at her and asked, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Hinata tried to dismiss him and kept giggling.

"Come on, Hinata. You gotta tell me these things, y'know," Naruto whined. Hinata sighed at him and pulled her legs closer to her chest, and adopted a thoughtful expression.

"It's just that you are always so determined, Naruto-kun. When you set your mind to something, you don't let anything stop you from accomplishing it. To be honest, I'm jealous of you because of that."

"Jealous?" Naruto asked, confused as ever. "What could you possibly be jealous of me for?"

Hinata sighed again as she rested her head on her legs, keeping it turned towards Naruto, who watched as her long hair fell over her face. Naruto didn't know when it started since he'd only first seen her again a few days ago, but lately he had started noticing these small details about her body and her behavior, and he had absolutely no idea what to make of them. The way she communicated to him…or the strange feelings he had in her presence.

"I wish I was capable of living my life the way you do, Naruto-kun," Hinata confessed. "Following my heart and never looking back." Naruto's eyes widened at her, only for them to screw shut a few seconds later alongside a bitter laugh.

"Well, you might wanna rethink that," Naruto said. "Look at where that got me."

"Which wasn't your fault," Hinata reminded him.

"Even so…" Naruto's voice trailed off, and they both fell into a long silence. Neither of them knew what they were supposed to say. Both of them were lost in wondering about the other's thoughts. Naruto still not fully able to grasp why Hinata had come here, and Hinata worrying about the sense of betrayal she was sure Naruto felt from being wrongfully imprisoned inside a maximum security prison where there was zero possibility of escape, and possibly even less of a chance of anyone else coming to help.

"Um…Naruto-kun…" Hinata forced herself to say.

"Huh? What's the matter, Hinata?"

"You don't mind if I come to see you every day, do you?" she asked, keeping her face turned away from him.

Naruto groaned. "You already know I want to tell you to stay away because of that guy and his seal," he muttered, eliciting a sad sigh from Hinata. "But if I said that, you'll just go and cry, won't you?" he went on; this caused her to turn back towards him. "And I can't forgive myself for anything that makes you cry."

Hinata beamed at Naruto as she scooted closer to him. "Thank you, Naruto-kun."

"For what?" Naruto asked with a grin and chuckle.

"Oh, it's nothing…"

x-x

The next several hours passed by much too quickly for Hinata as she and Naruto sat side by side, falling into a pattern of talking about whatever came to mind and dropping back into uncomfortable silence. The time was precious to her and despite the situation, she had no desire for it to end. It was not how she had pictured spending time with Naruto, but for the time being, it was enough. Bleak as his situation was, Naruto was managing to smile for her. Hinata was grateful for this, for it was all she had the power to do for him at the moment. She had to resist certain urges; but one she couldn't resist was to scoot closer to Naruto, close enough that she could nuzzle him. Naruto didn't seem to mind her being this close to him; if anything, his expression made Hinata dare to hope that she was somehow bringing him some measure of happiness. _'Being with Naruto-kun, even in a place like this…perhaps it is not all that bad,'_ she thought to herself.

So of course she should have remembered why it was not meant to last. A rattling at the cell door signaled to Hinata that the warden was present. She stood to face him, and Naruto joined her right as the door opened.

"Time's up. Let's go," Mui ordered Hinata.

"I will return tomorrow, okay Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

Naruto nodded at her. "Yeah…I'll see you soon, Hinata."

Hinata walked out of the cell, and a moment later, fell to her knees when Mui made a single hand sign, and said the command "Release." She gasped for air as the seal receded and vanished, restoring her body's access to its chakra network. She felt like a huge, burning weight had just been lifted from her, like she had come down with a fever only for it to suddenly vanish. ' _Naruto-kun is forced to endure this while he is here? How cruel…'_ she thought. She glared at Mui, her lavender eyes filled with nothing but scorn for the man and Mui just laughed.

"What's with that look, Ojō-san? The prisoners here are far too dangerous to handle any other way."

Her body still unsteady from the side effects of the seal, Hinata clumsily rose to her feet while continuing to glare at Mui. "You will not get away with this. Konoha will know how you are treating Naruto-kun and they will act. I promise you that," she hissed at the warden.

Mui matched her glare with one of his own and said, "It's foolish of you to try to bluff me again. You have no idea who you are dealing with. Let your village send its ninja after me. It will be the Hokage's final mistake. Now get out before I decide your stay should be a little more…permanent."

Hinata gave a sorrowful look at Naruto, who forced a weak smile at her before she turned away and walked towards the stairs. As she left, Mui was about to lock the cell, but the moment Hinata had vanished from his sight, he found himself being slammed against the door. Naruto's hands were wrapped around his throat, slowly suffocating him.

 **"Move even an inch and I'll crush your throat,"** Naruto growled. **"Call for help and the guards will be wiping your brain off these bars."**

Mui was about to activate the seal on Naruto to incinerate him, but when he glanced at Naruto's eyes, he froze. Naruto's eyes were blood red, surrounded by an abyssal black, and his body was engulfed in a menacing aura that made the warden's blood curdle. During his time as the master of Hōzuki Castle, Mui had been forced to intervene in an innumerable amount of incidents involving prisoners, all of which had ended with the prisoner's death. This was the first time one of those prisoners actually posed a serious threat to his life.

 _'Where is this dark chakra coming from?'_ Mui raged internally. _'The Celestial Prison seal should be cutting off his chakra! He should be burning in agony!'_

 **"If I really wanted to, I could burn out this damn seal by sheer force. So here's the deal. If you want me to behave during my sentence here, you will never inflict any harm on that girl again."**

 _'This is not the same boy who was sent here to rot,'_ Mui observed. _'A different persona is in control of him now. And this dark chakra radiating from him…it's like falling into a bottomless abyss. All I feel is pure negativity.'_ "And if I comply, do you expect me to forget this incident took place?" Mui rasped. The dark entity controlling Naruto hesitated briefly, his grip loosening. Mui saw that as his chance to put down the entity.

"Kusakage Style: Explosive Palm!" Mui shouted, his voice still hoarse from almost having his trachea crushed. He landed several palm strikes and punches in a row and knocked Naruto onto the floor. Then he quickly brought up his hand to form the necessary sign to activate the seal to burn Naruto. Mui walked out of the cell, content to just let Naruto burn to death. However, when he turned back around to lock the door, he was greeted with a horrific sight.

Naruto was not burning. He was surrounded by flames, but the dark chakra around him was forming a protective barrier.

 **"Cute. My power is indeed limited right now. It's all I can do to protect this body from your seal with it completely activated."** He shot Mui a cold stare and asked, **"How will Konoha react when they learn you performed an execution without authorization?"**

Mui paused to examine Naruto's body, but remained poised to strike again at the slightest provocation. "You do seem different. No one has ever survived with my seal activated this long." He took a few moments to contemplate the potential implications of a prisoner displaying this level of resistance to his imprisonment technique. He then sighed and formed another hand seal, extinguishing the fire after seeing it was worthless. "Don't get me wrong. I'm only keeping you alive until I receive the order to execute you, since you have decided to make yourself my enemy. But I will do as you ask this one time. Consider it your last request."

 **"Here's the problem with that reasoning, Mui. You're assuming you'll even receive a valid order to kill me. I seem to recall Hinata warning you earlier that if I die, you'll be at war with Konoha and her allies. So unless you're crazy enough to commit suicide by proxy for your entire country, I guarantee I'll be able to force more 'last requests' out of you before** _ **you**_ **die."** Mui gave no response to that threat except for a maniacal laugh as he locked the cell and walked away.

With the warden once more out of reach, Naruto sunk back into his cell and collapsed onto his bed. **"Dammit. Possessing him took more out of me then I anticipated,"** he cursed. **"But at least she'll be safe for now. That's all that matters…right, Naruto?"** he asked himself as he closed his eyes.

x-x

 **Hello all my faithful readers. Sorry it took so long to get another chapter out but that's life hehe. No but seriously life happens wish I could write more but I'm doing the best I can here. Anyway time to address a few questions.**

 **Haizama: Root being "officially" disbanded has no merit on Danzō's action. This is Danzō we are talking about here, he will do anything and everything for the sake of becoming Hokage except the one thing that's actually required to legitimately hold such a position. Danzō acted well outside the law in canon on numerous occasions and the worst punishment he ever received was being thrown off the Konoha Council. Therefore Root still being active despite officially being disbanded is not too far fetched to believe because it is something Danzo would most certainly do given his character. Second, the issue of Danzō's body will be addressed but if I told you how it would spoil the story I already knew coming into this that there would be some vagueness around that plot point. Finally the issue of the arrest warrant so soon after Naruto returned is also an issue that will be addressed later as the Daimyō will have a different role in this story.**

 **I think that covered most of the questions but if you guys have any more feel free to ask and keep enjoying the story. Again much thanks goes out to SilentSambo88 for his continued help beta reading this story for me.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Different Bonds**

Seven days after Naruto's wrongful arrest…

Hinata sighed as she scrubbed a table at the izakaya on this island outpost. She would rather be with Naruto right now, but she had already drained the majority of the funds provided by her father while setting herself up at her temporary residence on this island outpost and she had not been able to visit her most precious person since arriving. She had been forced to negotiate for a job as one of the staff at this pub, and even before the interview finished she found herself wishing there was alternate employment available on the island. The uniform provided to her made her uncomfortable with how much of her skin it left exposed, and she had to put up with the lustful gazes from many of the male customers. This type of work was unbecoming of a Hyūga, and Hinata was only doing it for Naruto's sake.

She was about to feel relieved when she saw it was almost closing time until she heard yelling from one of the customers.

"Hey lady, we need more sake over here!"

Hinata sighed again. Of course someone had to go and drag out the night longer than she wanted. "Right away, sir!" she called back. She quickly poured a few glasses and set them on the tray in her right hand. However, she was in so much of a hurry to leave and visit Naruto that she tripped over the feet of another customer, knocking the drinks right into the face of the man who ordered them. "Oh no! I'm so sorry!" she quickly apologized, stepping away to give the drunk a bow.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, girl?" the victim of Hinata's accident growled, grabbing her wrist. Hinata's nose crinkled at the smell of alcohol on him. She knew he was drunk, and while she would have handled him effortlessly were she back in Konoha, here the owner of this establishment did not know she was a ninja, and worse, had made it clear to her that she was already on his shit list. Any use of violence, even in self-defense would get her fired. Her only options were to let the drunk man vent, or start searching for other means to provide for herself.

But his next words had her seriously considering the latter: "Hey…you're a pretty little thing, aren't you?"

Hinata immediately glared at the drunk, feeling deeply insulted. _'How dare you go and say something like that,'_ she internally raged. Naruto was the only person who she would tolerate saying such things about her, and she would not be here were it not for her need to support him. With every passing moment, her desire to put this man in his place strengthened.

"If you want me to let you walk out of here unharmed, you will let go of me right now," Hinata said, her voice turning deadly cold. Unfortunately, the drunkard was too inebriated to listen to her warning, and he continued his rambling, drooling over himself as he ogled her.

"You know, I got some friends who would love to meet you." Hinata intensified her glare towards him, but as she was unable to display proper killing intent in this situation, it had no effect. "Oh, don't be like that. You gotta make up for what you did to me, right?"

"I think you've had enough," a new voice said. The drunkard turned around, and Hinata pulled her wrist out of his grip and backed away from him just in time to avoid what happened next. In a single instant, the man went from being ready to force himself on her and fighting anyone who tried to interfere, to dropping to his knees, clutching his numb hand and surrounded in static electricity. Hinata almost did not see it happen, it was so fast, but the drunk had been hit by electrified senbon from this newcomer whose appearance was completely concealed by a crimson cloak.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" someone from an adjacent table shouted at the newcomer. However, before he and the others would be able to get up and attack, they, too would be left paralyzed.

"Chidori Stream," the newcomer declared his attack, gathering lightning to his left hand and pressing it to the ground. A powerful electric current shot through the floor towards the other would-be aggressors and everyone behind them, making their nervous systems go haywire and quickly rendering them all unconscious. At this point, the noise from his attacks had caught the attention of the establishment's owner, who marched out from the back room to confront him.

"Get the hell out of my pub!" the owner shouted at the newcomer. "You too, bitch!" he directed at Hinata. "I knew hiring you was a bad idea." Hinata stood there for a moment in disbelief. She had done nothing wrong, she was the victim of the assault and yet she was being punished for it. As for the newcomer who effortlessly dealt with the drunk and everyone else, he just chuckled and charged more lightning through his hand. Less than a second later, that hand was sticking out of the owner's back, piercing straight through his heart.

"Your service was awful, and your holier-than-thou attitude kept you from appreciating reliable help when it offered itself to you," he muttered to the dead owner. "People like you make me sick." He pulled his hand out of the owner's chest and let the lifeless body fall face-first onto the floor while he grabbed a towel from behind the bar to wipe off the blood. Everyone else in the izakaya, except for Hinata who chose to stand her ground, was now in full-blown panic and fleeing as quickly as possible.

Hinata rapidly analyzed what had just happened. As far as she knew, Kakashi had only ever taught the Chidori to one person, and this person had just used at least one variant of the assassination technique along with the original version. She removed her contacts and activated her Byakugan, quickly confirming the identity of the man in the cloak who had just laid waste to this izakaya. She kept the dōjutsu active as she readied herself for the impending confrontation.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Hinata addressed the rogue ninja. "We need to talk."

x-x

Back in Konoha, Hiashi Hyūga was reviewing the paperwork that accumulated during his latest trip out of the village. With the ongoing situation involving Naruto, Root and the Daimyō, he had not told anyone aside from his personal guards of his whereabouts, and even that was a risk he did not believe he could afford. After Hinata's involvement in the incident, he was convinced that drastic action would be necessary to get Naruto released, and so he was secretly gathering support from as many of his clan's allies outside of the village as possible. Hiashi was on the warpath.

Upon his return, he had been informed by Neji that the Hokage was aware of Hinata's absence from the village and that there had been near-confrontations with the rest of Team Kurenai along with Kakashi. Only a fool would have not known that would happen, but Hiashi had been taken slightly off-guard by the potential severity of the averted confrontations. To Hiashi, it looked as though everyone else in Konoha was woefully mishandling the situation with Naruto, and sowing chaos and discord when they needed to unify more than ever and bring Naruto back home swiftly.

Speaking of Kakashi, he did not need to activate his Byakugan to know that the Copy Ninja was en route to the estate for a confrontation which could not be averted and would arrive any second.

"You never were one to show the proper decorum towards me, Kakashi," Hiashi announced to the empty space in his office where he knew Kakashi was about to appear. Sure enough, Kakashi was there just as soon as Hiashi finished speaking, appearing via Body Flicker, and Kakashi was not amused.

"I've yet to be placed in a situation with you that warrants the 'proper decorum' you insist on, Hiashi," Kakashi shot back.

"Even so, simply appearing in my office with ninjutsu instead of notifying my guardsmen raises certain questions about the importance of your visit, and I had better like your answers. Why are you here?"

"I'll be asking the questions this time around," Kakashi dismissed the implied threat from the Hyūga patriarch, and in his doing so, confirmed that he was here to perform an interrogation. "Where is Hinata?"

"I suppose Kiba and Shino told you?" Hiashi asked. "Honestly, I'm surprised it's you who's here and not Kurenai-san."

"Kurenai has been busy working with Inoichi-san to interrogate anyone connected to Danzō, so I'm doing her a favor. So if you don't mind, let's cut to the chase." Kakashi said shortly. He then gave Hiashi a piercing glare and repeated his question: "Where the hell is Hinata?"

Hiashi shrugged. "I imagine she is where she wants to be right now."

"You're deliberately avoiding my question. Which means you sent her to Hōzuki Castle," Kakashi stated in an accusatory tone. It was not a question.

Hiashi set aside his pen and rose from his zabuton to face Kakashi. "There is no need to order someone to travel to any given destination when they are more than willing to go there themselves. Why is this so important? Where my daughter chooses to go during her spare time is strictly her concern."

"As she is currently suspended, Hinata does not have authorization to leave the village for any reason. Hokage-sama is seriously considering declaring her a missing-nin and having her brought back by force. Furthermore, she's very close to having you arrested for this direct contravention of your duty."

"If Tsunade wishes to continue alienating her subordinates and allies, she is more than welcome to lock me up," Hiashi said. "And by the way, Kakashi, what is her plan for rescuing Naruto?" he asked, changing the subject.

"That is not we're discussing here," Kakashi said coldly.

"It may as well be, as it would be far more productive than this interrogation. Hinata is the only loyal Konoha ninja who even tried to stop Root from illegally taking Naruto in the first place. The proper course of action that day would have been to apprehend or kill the Root ninja present despite the Daimyō's decree and if necessary, assassinate the Daimyō himself and ensure his replacement acts in Konoha's best interests. But instead, you did absolutely nothing to help your teacher's son when it mattered. You're looking at yet another black mark on your record as a consequence of your mishandling of this situation, at best."

"Strong words coming from an A-rank hypocrite. Given your absence from the incident and your orders to Neji, you know full well the treason you suggest we commit wasn't possible then, and remains impossible now."

"Neji's presence at that scene was a coincidence. Wrong place, wrong time, that sort of thing. What's done is done, however, and your priority now should be to focus on rescuing Naruto, yes?"

Kakashi growled and turned to leave. "This discussion isn't over, Hiashi. But before I leave, you should know that I am doing everything in my power to help Naruto—even going against the Hokage's orders if need be."

Hiashi nodded and almost smiled. "Very good, Kakashi. Then allow Hinata to play her roles of gathering intelligence for Konoha and convincing Naruto that his village did not betray him."

"And what about you?" Kakashi asked. "How does helping Naruto benefit you? You never struck me as the charitable type."

Hiashi thought for a few moments before giving his reply. "My reasons are my own. But there is zero political motivation behind my actions. All that drives me at this time is the need to correct a grave injustice."

"For your sake, I hope that's true," Kakashi said as he vanished into the night.

x-x

Mui was fixated on the burning fireplace in his office as he dwelled on recent events. His plans for Naruto had definitely failed to survive first contact with the unruly blond, and he had one man alone to blame for that: Hiashi Hyūga. While Mui only knew of Hiashi by reputation, what he knew about Hiashi left him troubled.

For the most important thing Mui knew about Hiashi was this: Hiashi knew too much about him.

'How does he know about the Box of Ultimate Bliss?' Mui wondered, allowing himself to show only the smallest visible signs of panic in his solitude. 'Is there a spy or mole currently inside this castle feeding him this information? But more importantly than how he got his information, how much does he truly know about the Box…or what it holds inside?'

Mui's eyes narrowed at the flames as he recalled the contents of Hiashi's scroll:

 _Mui-dono,_

 _I will make this brief. You will allow my daughter to visit and take care of the prisoner, Uzumaki Naruto. If you are wondering why you will adhere to this demand, you might want to consider if a certain box in your possession is worth the risk. Now, I can be generous when dealing with reasonable men, so to provide you with some incentive to acquiesce to my demands I have instructed my daughter to bribe you. I expect she will also warn you of what you should expect should you do anything to harm either her or Naruto._

 _I will speak with you again soon._

Hinata's presence here posed another set of problems all on her own. Subduing her with the Celestial Prison seal had been as easy as if she were just another of the common criminals under his custody, but her knowledge had him unnerved. Yes, she had clearly tried to bluff him upon arrival, with partial success, but that was the problem. How much did she know?

And that question brought him back to the most immediate problem: the prisoner himself. Without a shadow of a doubt, Naruto was the most problematic felon who had ever been shipped off to his castle. In the very first incident involving him since his arrival, Naruto had demonstrated a resistance to his seal, showing that he could still use ninjutsu, though they were greatly weakened. That paled in comparison to the second incident. When Mui had used the seal on Hinata to ensure her silence, Naruto attacked and nearly killed him inside that cell. Mui had failed to subdue the prisoner after that attack; a full activation of the Celestial Prison seal, which should have immolated him, had absolutely no effect, and Mui knew he would be dead right now if Naruto had chosen to attack again. Mui could not risk another one of these incidents. He counted himself fortunate for two reasons: that Naruto managed to survive the seal's flames, and that Naruto had not pressed his attack when he had the chance. He could not afford to kill Naruto now; the full might of Konoha and its allies would descend upon his country if they learned of the boy's demise, and without the power contained in the Box, power he could not unlock without utilizing the chakra of the Nine-Tails, Kusagakure had no hope of surviving an all-out war with two of the Five Great Nations.

Still, the warden was beginning to question whether it was worth the trouble of subduing Naruto long enough to open the Box.

"That entity controlling Naruto inside his cell…just what was it?" Mui whispered. "It was not Kyūbi, but it also was not human." He dwelled long and hard on the horrifying sight of the prisoner, engulfed in the seal's flames yet unharmed by them. He was certain that there was not a human currently alive who could figure out a way to overcome his seal. And no human would have had such a strong negative aura surrounding him. In that entity's presence, Mui had felt cold as death. Being enveloped in that aura was like being in freefall in an abyss before landing in an icy Naraka.

There were far too many questions surrounding Naruto, and answers were in short supply. And the worst part of all was that Mui knew he was running out of time to enact his plans.

"I will have to move quickly," the warden growled as he rose from his chair and headed off towards Naruto's cell.

x-x

For several long, dangerous minutes, Hinata and Sasuke remained still. The tension in the air was much too thick for a kunai to cut. Even before he deserted Konoha, Sasuke had always been the best of their class, and Hinata knew the gap between him and her now was simply too wide. She had no chance of defeating him in a fight. Her only hope of surviving the night was to neither provoke him, nor allow her guard to fall.

Slowly, Sasuke turned around and let the hood of his cloak fall. Hinata was struck by how much colder he looked now than the last time he had been in proximity of her, over two years ago.

"Let's not be so loud, then," the rogue Uchiha whispered, stepping over the unconscious bodies of his other victims as he walked outside the izakaya. Hinata quickly followed, though internally she was fighting a losing battle against her fear of him and of what he might now be capable.

"I am not here to fight you, Sasuke, or to try to persuade you to return to Konoha," Hinata said. "Though I do wish to know why you are here."

Sasuke stared at her for a few seconds, analyzing her. "A wise decision," he replied. "And I could ask the same of you. How does the former Hyūga heiress wind up in what is for all practical purposes the middle of nowhere, with her comrades nowhere to be found? If I had to guess, you went rogue because of a certain blond idiot." He saw Hinata's glare towards him intensify and knew he had hit the mark on his first try, just as expected for the Uchiha bloodline. "Perhaps we may be on the same page tonight."

"I have every reason to doubt that." Hinata's voice turned cold.

Sasuke just shrugged, remaining impassive. "As well you should. Whatever trouble Naruto got himself into this time that landed him inside that prison, he shouldn't hope for me to bail him out. That's not why I'm here. If it's why you're here, then you're just wasting your time."

"You have fallen far since you abandoned Konohagakure no Sato, Sasuke. Do the bonds you share with Naruto-kun and Sakura-san truly mean nothing to you?" Hinata tried to play the guilt card on Sasuke; a wasted move.

Sasuke's expression darkened considerably. His next words were dripping with venom. "The only bond I share is with my brother, a bond forged by hatred. You would do well to remember that, Hyūga."

Hinata's glare at the rogue Uchiha intensified further. "Then why are you even here?"

Sasuke's left hand moved towards his right side. "Call it curiosity. Word of Naruto's incarceration spread quickly around these parts. Obviously I have no desire to return to that hellhole you call home, so my only way to find out why he's locked up was to infiltrate the castle and figure out how to escape. Until you came along, that is."

"Is that all?" Hinata's voice was condescending. "Feel free to try it anyway. Prison life would suit you well, Uchiha."

Sasuke just chuckled as the pitiful Hyūga kept her Byakugan solely fixated on him. "Do you really think anyone with your inferior Kekkei Genkai can intimidate me?" he asked. In the next moment, he was behind Hinata, Sharingan blazing as he pressed his chokutō to her neck just hard enough to break the skin. "You're lucky I didn't come here to kill you, Hyūga. Don't test my patience, or I may just decide to forget why I'm here."

 _'He got behind me at such close range so easily just to spite me? My training should not have allowed this to happen…'_ While Hinata had come into this knowing she would lose if Sasuke had chosen to start a fight, the Uchiha's demonstration of just how easily he could dispose of her was a serious blow to her pride. Her guard thoroughly broken, she forced herself to deactivate her dōjutsu as she was held captive by Sasuke, her survival depending solely on his whims.

"Now that we're at an understanding, how about you satisfy my curiosity?" Sasuke demanded.

"And if I were to tell you Naruto-kun was framed? What would you do then?" Hinata shot back.

"That would depend on the victim." It was the most blatant of lies, but Hinata was powerless to call him out on it. "Whose death was pinned on that loser?"

"Shimura Danzō," Hinata spat out the name, gritting her teeth.

 _'Danzō? The leader of Root? Well, that explains Orochimaru's recent behavior,'_ Sasuke thought to himself as he deactivated his Sharingan and removed his chokutō from Hinata's neck, returning it to its sheath. He took a few steps away from Hinata and muttered several curses under his breath that she would not have been able to make out even with her Byakugan active.

"I'll be taking my leave now," Sasuke said. "For what it's worth, I wish you the best of luck in freeing that idiot."

"I truly do not know what it is Naruto-kun sees in you," Hinata told him as he walked away.

The rogue Uchiha's laugh would echo throughout the late night air long after his departure. "That makes two of us."

x-x

"What the hell do you want?" Naruto yelled at Mui from behind his cell door. The warden had been staring at him through the barred window on his door for the past several minutes and it was getting really annoying.

' _Strange. It appears he has no memory of that incident,'_ Mui observed. "Tell me, boy," he said, stroking his chin. "Why do you still pledge loyalty to a village that has all but abandoned you?"

Naruto glared at Mui, leaking killing intent and ignoring the pain he felt from the Celestial Prison seal. "You don't know the people of Konoha. Just you wait, asshole. Baa-chan will get me outta here in no time, that is if I don't bust free on my own."

Mui sighed and moved his finger along one of the bars. "You seem awfully confident in that misguided belief. Allow me to elaborate. To Konohagakure, you are nothing more than a mere foot soldier. Assuming that what you say is true and you are innocent, no political power has the time or resources to waste on one of thousands like you. You cannot count on your village coming to your rescue. But you know I speak the truth, don't you? After all, isn't that what your life as a jinchūriki has been like up until now?"

"How about you skip all the bullshit and tell me what the fuck it is you want outta me," Naruto growled again, pressing his hands against the door.

"What I want…hmmm." Mui paused to gather his thoughts. Naruto was as angry as usual with him, which was a serious problem. The blond's eyes were still blue, and there was no trace of that negative aura from their last interaction. "You couldn't possibly understand my desires. But let it suffice to say that I am here to observe something."

"And what exactly are you observing?" Naruto asked.

"You tell me."

"Bastards like you never make any sense, do ya?"

"The same could be said of you." The upper levels of the castle quickly fell silent as Mui wracked his brain for anything he might be able to use to force the entity that attacked him to reveal itself so he could discover what it was and how he might be able to rid himself of it. He considered activating the seal to try and force it out; however, there were two significant problems with that idea. The first was that if the entity did not emerge again, Naruto would be killed, and Mui could not risk that possibility. And the second was that he had no guarantee of surviving another encounter with that darkness. Thus this conversation had been meant to push Naruto's buttons, trying to find the one which would release the entity while the warden had additional layers of protection.

But Mui had wasted too much time on this tactic tonight. He was interrupted by one of his guards. "What is it?" he demanded, only glancing at the guard from the corner of his eye.

"Forgive me, Aruji-sama, but it's the Hyūga girl again."

Mui observed how Naruto's eyes brightened when he heard the guard mention Hinata. _'There is always a third option waiting to be stumbled upon,'_ he mused in his mind. "Tell me, boy. How much do you know about Hyūga Hiashi?"

Naruto returned his attention to his interrogator. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, genuinely curious about the man's question.

"It's rather strange. He sends me a letter along with a bribe and his daughter shortly after your arrival. Why would you think he would do such a thing?"

Naruto frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Hinata's dad did what?" he asked confused and bewildered, again disappointing Mui with his response. The warden let out a heavy sigh.

"By your answer, I guess you don't know either then," Mui observed. He then turned to the guard and said, "Very well. Let her in, but don't feel the need to let her back out anytime soon."

"Hey! Hinata isn't your prisoner!" Naruto yelled.

"Of course not," Mui replied. "But if she is to be an uninvited guest in my castle, then she will at least abide by its rules and regulations. My guards will only take action when it is necessary, but they do not wait hand and foot on guests." The warden left down the flight of stairs.

x-x

A few minutes after Mui's departure, the guard from earlier returned with Hinata and shoved her inside Naruto's cell before disappearing again. Naruto was quick to embrace her, and normally this action would have shocked Hinata or at the very least embarrassed her, but the whole time since she was downcast and Naruto knew he'd have to address what happened.

"Hinata, what's wrong?" Naruto asked. "Did those bastards here do something to you?"

Hinata shook her head. "Oh no, Naruto-kun. It's strange…I actually did not see the warden at all this time. It was only his guard accompanying me here. But that's not what's bothering me…"

Naruto heard volumes from Hinata's reluctance to speak, and far more when she fell silent. Whatever incident had occurred while she was away, she had no desire to share it with him. This only made his drive to hear it from her stronger. "Come on, Hinata. You need to tell me these things, y'know," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders.

Hinata pulled away from Naruto and paced back towards the cell door. Her body language gave away her inner conflict and she knew Naruto would not let her keep this to herself, but she stubbornly remained silent. She knew Naruto would react poorly to what she had to say once he inevitably convinced her to speak. She also knew it would not take Naruto longer than a couple of minutes to wrest it out of her.

Sure enough, he had already started to do so. Naruto walked over towards her and lifted up her chin, and noticed the fresh cut on her neck.

"Who did this to you?" Naruto growled, touching the cut with his thumb. He had learned enough to recognize that the cut could not have been inflicted more than a couple of hours ago. "If it wasn't Mui or his guards, then who was it?"

Hinata flinched and pulled away again, still not wanting to tell Naruto. It was only when she saw red leaking into his eyes that she relented. "Sasuke," she whispered under her breath.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock. He did not want to believe what he just heard. He grabbed Hinata's shoulders again, shaking her a little. "What did you say, Hinata?"

"It was Sasuke, alright?!" Hinata screamed. Naruto quickly backed away, giving her space to catch her breath. Hinata spent the next minute calming herself after her outburst before she started to explain the details. "It happened at the island outpost. I had found work at an izakaya there shortly after I arrived. There was a drunk man who got aggressive and I was having some trouble dissuading him without using force. But Sasuke happened to be there and started a fight, knocking out the drunkard and a few other customers. At that point, the owner of the izakaya fired me, only for Sasuke to murder him in cold blood." She stopped to take several more deep breaths. "Afterward, Sasuke and I had a brief…talk outside. I kept my guard up the entire time, but he overpowered me effortlessly."

Naruto clenched his fists and screwed his eyes shut. He had not wanted to believe two years ago that Sasuke chose to betray Konoha and still thought that if he could just get through to his best friend, he could keep his promise to Sakura and bring him back home. But to hear of what Sasuke had become over the past two years from Hinata, who was quickly becoming his confidante and his most precious person tore at Naruto deeply, reopening the wounds from when he had failed to bring Sasuke back the first time and exposing his inner doubts once more. But doubt wasn't the only thing growing stronger in Naruto as he swallowed the bitter pill that was Hinata's story. Knowing that Sasuke had been willing to hurt Hinata brought out something ugly in Naruto.

"Sasuke did this to you?" Naruto growled, his eyes continuing to turn red. Hinata nodded, but scrambled to assure Naruto that she was physically fine.

"Honestly, Naruto-kun, all Sasuke wounded was my pride," Hinata said, frantic as she tried to calm Naruto. 'But if he had wanted to go farther than he did…'

"Why did he even go to you anyway?" Naruto seemed to be largely unaffected by Hinata's frantic attempt to calm him. "And if he's here, then…"

Hinata nodded again. "Sasuke knows you are here, Naruto-kun."

"And…?"

Hinata sighed deeply, knowing this next part would hurt Naruto the most. "He has no intention of helping you."

Naruto fell completely silent. He had just about lost his battle against his darker thoughts as his mind continued to process this information and contemplate on how it would affect his struggle to make Sasuke see reason. More precisely, it made him question if Sasuke was still worth the effort. After the incident Hinata described, an increasingly larger part of him just wanted to kill the Uchiha for daring to harm Hinata, his promise to Sakura be damned.

"Naruto-kun…?" Hinata was wondering whether she should have resisted Naruto and stayed silent on the matter. She felt very uncomfortable around him right now, not due to the building rage (she still felt safe around him despite her increasingly more frequent glimpses of his anger, which was itself disturbing because it looked like his anger went far deeper than anyone, even Naruto himself, knew). "Naruto-kun, please talk to me," she pleaded with him.

Naruto blinked twice when his mind registered Hinata speaking. He sighed and shook his head. "I guess that means I really do need to bust outta here on my own," he said, almost back to his normal self. "But in order to do that I'll need to figure out how to get rid of this damn seal."

"That would mean utilizing your knowledge of fūinjutsu, Naruto-kun." Hinata pointed out. "And the Celestial Prison seal appears to be particularly complex. There is no telling how long it would take you to learn about how it functions, not to mention the gamble you would be making with your life by studying the seal and trying to remove it."

"Agh! Dammit. Of course you're right, and I've never been good at fūinjutsu," Naruto conceded. He stared at the floor for a while before looking back up at Hinata, giving her a wide smile. "Well, I guess that means you'll have to help me!"

"What?!" a startled Hinata blurted out. "But Naruto-kun, I don't know any fūinjutsu!" Hinata said.

"I'm sure you know more about it than I do. I really need your help to figure out how this seal works."

"That can't be right. You studied under Jiraiya-sama for two years. Your knowledge of the sealing arts should be far greater than mine."

"Agh! I didn't even wanna learn any of that stuff from Ero-sennin in the first place, and every time he tried teaching me I just kept screwing up. I suck at this stuff, Hinata. Please just help me out, okay? Please?"

Hinata thought about Naruto's request for a few minutes. While her resources outside of Konoha would be limited and returning to Konoha before Naruto was released was not an option, she figured it was more than worth the effort of performing whatever research she could on harmful seals like the one on Naruto while she was not visiting him, and then when she returned they would try to put any knowledge she gained to use. It was not the best plan, but at this point, even a bad plan was better than not having a plan at all. She gave Naruto a firm nod. "Alright. I will do my best," she told him, and was rewarded with a large grin.

"Just wait. I'll have us outta this place before you know it, Hinata."

Hinata smiled brightly. Somehow her presence here was maintaining Naruto's confidence, which in turn continued to bolster her own confidence. Even though it was just the two of them against all their adversaries here, she believed she and Naruto would figure a way out of this. "Right!"

x-x

Whoever first said "the night is always darkest just before the dawn" was clearly still being tormented in one of the worst versions of Naraka for the negative karma he accumulated through many generations of deceiving the masses with false promises of comfort and relief. Night was still upon Konoha, and while the sunrise was only an hour away, the dawn which was sought by the Sand Siblings as they approached its gates would take a long time to be brought upon their world.

"Why all the secrecy, Gaara?" a very annoyed Kankurō asked as he and his siblings, all concealed by white cloaks, jumped out of the trees and slowly walked towards the gates.

"Our visit here must be brief, Kankurō," Gaara replied. "Revealing ourselves to anyone but the Hokage would create unnecessary distractions."

"I don't think that's the only reason Gaara's trying to keep a low profile," Temari commented as Gaara dashed ahead of her.

"I get what you mean," Kankurō said. "Something feels off about this journey."

Temari glanced behind her and nodded at the older of her two younger brothers. "I've been nervous as well since we left Suna. We can only imagine how Gaara is feeling."

"Why are we even here in the first place? Gaara shouldn't be taking any unscheduled journeys out of our village if there's any real danger to his life."

"This is Gaara we're talking about, Kankurō. Once he sets his mind to something, no one can dissuade him." Kankurō shuddered at that, having brief flashbacks of the days when Gaara was mad with bloodlust and they and almost everyone else in Suna lived in fear of when he might decide to end their existence.

"All we can do now is protect him," Temari added. Kankurō nodded and they dashed forward to catch up with Gaara, who was at the gates and showing the necessary papers to the guards to gain entry without needing to reveal their identities. From there, they were forced to walk the rest of the way to the Academy.

"Wait here," Gaara instructed his older siblings once they were less than one block away from his destination. "I will try to make this go by quickly." The two nodded and stood back as their youngest brother jumped over the gates and rushed towards the Administrative Division.

Even several doors away, Gaara could hear Tsunade pacing back and forth in her office, obviously troubled. However that did not change why he had come here and he would be sure Tsunade knew that as well. Any soundproofing/privacy seals that were in use were obviously defective, as the Kazekage clearly heard Tsunade ranting from a few meters away.

"Kurenai and Inoichi have no new information, I have a chūnin gone rogue and once again Jiraiya is out of reach. Do I really just have to keep sitting here on my ass, doing nothing?!" Tsunade was yelling at Shizune.

Gaara took that as his cue to initiate the confrontation. "The better question to ask would be why you choose to do nothing," he growled as he threw the door open and threw off his cloak. Tsunade tensed up while Shizune quietly excused herself from the office.

"So the news has reached you by now, Kazekage-dono," Tsunade observed.

"Spare me the pleasantries, Hokage-dono. And tell me why you allowed Uzumaki Naruto to be sent to Hōzuki Castle for a crime he did not commit."

"You weren't there when it happened. You don't know how limited my options were at the time," Tsunade shot back.

"How is it you cannot exercise control over your subordinates? Particularly when those subordinates defy you by placing your most important shinobi under arrest?" Gaara's voice steadily rose as he repeated his demands to the Hokage.

"Aburame Torune and Yamanaka Fū worked directly under Danzō and while he may have been disgraced, Danzō still had many influential friends and protections afforded to him. His subordinates are still exploiting those protections now that he's dead. What exactly am I supposed to do when faced with a direct order from the Daimyō, Gaara?! What would you have done?!" Tsunade yelled.

Gaara just glared at Tsunade, believing her question was ludicrous. "Naruto once chose to save my soul when he could have just ended my existence. I would think the answer to that should be obvious. But I'm not here to talk about what I would have done, but rather what I _will_ do."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow and clenched her fists. "Then you don't understand a damn thing about politics, or the very real threat the current Daimyō of the Land of Fire poses to my village. You of all people should have been able to understand, given what your country's own Daimyō did to Suna that culminated in your attack on us two and a half years ago. And speaking of threats, did you just threaten me?"

Gaara's glare at the Hokage intensified. "No, Hokage-dono, I am making a promise. If Uzumaki Naruto has not been released from Hōzuki Castle within one year, Sunagakure will launch an attack on Kusagakure with the primary objective of liberating him."

"Without any assistance from your allies?" Tsunade asked.

"Whether Konoha comes to Naruto's aid as you should have done already is entirely up to you. But it will reflect poorly on Konoha if Suna has to go fixing all of your problems."

"You would risk your entire village just for Naruto?" Tsunade asked as Gaara turned to leave. That she felt giving voice to that question was necessary, despite empathizing with her fellow Kage, spoke volumes about how precarious this ongoing situation was and her frustration with having her hands figuratively tied when just about everyone who was confronting her was demanding action.

And Gaara's parting words were made all the more painful for her to hear by it.

"It's only because of Naruto that I still have a village."

It did not take long for Gaara to exit the Academy and return to his companions across the street. They were both leaning against the building and stood at attention when they heard him jump back over the Academy's front gate.

"You weren't kidding when you said you would be brief," Kankurō said.

"We have completed our business here so we should return as soon as possible," Temari said. "Especially if we have to prepare for another war." As an afterthought, she added, "I am not looking forward to what the Council has to say when we return."

Gaara brought up his hand to silence them. "Do you hear that?" he asked, picking up on an eerie whistling noise from behind. All three of them turned back around towards the source of the noise…

Just in time to witness the Academy explode.

x-x

 **A/N: Hi guys. Behold the dreaded Evil Cliffhanger Jutsu in action.**

 **There is probably a bit of OOC behavior in this chapter. However, Hinata's behavior towards Sasuke, specifically not using an honorific suffix with his name, is not OOC. Hinata may canonically use -kun with Sasuke like she does with all of the other males in the Rookie 9, but since currently Sasuke is a missing-nin (even if Tsunade hasn't declared him one), the proper way to address criminals is to not use any honorific suffixes with their names, or to use specific suffixes in accordance with whether they're suspected of a crime, on trial for a crime or convicted of a crime. This is also why Hinata isn't using honorific suffixes for Mui: she considers the warden of the Blood Prison the worst kind of criminal for his role in Naruto's wrongful imprisonment.**

 **Now to address a reviewer or two. Scandalf, I realize I could write more than I do; however, I should point out writing fanfiction is not my only hobby and I am also working on two fanfics at the same time and I have an obligation to my co-author/beta reader to at least attempt a few chapters of that each year. But there is some good news, Since I was recently kicked from my raiding team on FFXIV I will indeed have more time for writing as I have no desire to get back into that particular part of the game. And some more good news is that while the story has been a bit slow so far it is about to pick up and get more interesting. I do however need time to develop Dark Naruto as a character so if it does seem slow at times there is a purpose for that.**

 **I think that covers most of what I wanted to say so hopefully the rest of my readers can look forward to Chapter 6 sometime late January to early February.**


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